Unabomber may be cleared of attack on Yale Professor

A federal judge's order handed last month may help clear Unabomber suspect Theodore Kaczynski of charges that he mailed a bomb that seriously injured Yale computer science professor David Gelernter in 1993.

On Thurs., Nov. 13, Federal Magistrate Gregory Hollows ordered prosecutors to provide Kaczyinski's defense team with a 1995 FBI teletype that they had initially tried to block the defense from obtaining. The judge's order did not describe the contents of the statement. According to Time, however, Hollows said that "when viewed in isolation, [the teletype] tends to detract from the `Unabomber's' participation" in the Gelernter bombing.

Gelernter opened a package on June 24, 1993 that he thought contained a dissertation from a colleague at California State University. The bomb exploded, causing severe injuries to his chest, abdomen, and hand, and the partial loss of vision and hearing. He was hospitalized for six weeks.

Two days before the Gelernter bombing, University of California at San Francisco geneticist Charles Epstein received a mail bomb. At the time, some investigators thought the attack was the work of a "copycat" criminal, but most believed the Unabomber was responsible because of the materials used to construct the bombs.

Two years later, in 1995, the Unabomber sent Gelernter a letter taunting him and criticizing his book Mirror Worlds, in which he stated that technological progress is inevitable. The letter said, "If you'd had any brains you would have realized that there are a lot of people out there who resent bitterly the way techno-nerds like you are changing the world and you wouldn't have been dumb enough to open an unexpected package from an unknown source."

Kaczynski was arrested in April 1996 for possession of bomb-making materials, and two months later, a federal grand jury indicted him on 10 counts related to four bombings that killed two people and injured two others, including Gelernter. He pleaded not guilty to charges of transporting and mailing explosives with the intent to kill.

Defense attorneys claim that Kaczynski is a paranoid schizophrenic who is incapable of formulating an intent to kill. They plan to move his cabin to California so jurors will be able to see Kaczynski's deplorable living conditions. Kaczynski's lawyers intend to argue that he suffered from a "diminished capacity" in the hopes that jurors will spare his life if he is convicted. Prosecutors have asked U.S. District Judge Garland Burrell to prohibit the defense from using this argument because Kaczynski refused to speak with psychiatrists chosen by the prosecution.

The trial is scheduled to begin on Mon., Dec. 29, and is expected to last two to four months. On Wed., Dec. 3, lead defense attorney Quin Denvir would only say that the two legal teams are close to an agreement that could shorten the trial. Attorneys are in the process of selecting a jury and are asking prospective members if they would consider executing Kaczynski if he is convicted.

In his September 1997 autobiography entitled Drawing Life: Surviving the Unabomber, Gelernter labeled the Unabomber a brutal murderer, describing him as a "squalid cutthroat coward." He also criticized the media for portraying the terrorist as a victim of mental illness. Gelernter also described the dramatic changes in his life since the bombing. He has learned to write and paint again, but he can no longer play the piano or perform simple tasks such as cutting food and tying his shoes.

Gelernter strongly supports the death penalty for murderers. In the The Nando Times, Gelernter was quoted as saying, "If we can't execute a man who murdered three people in the most cowardly, premeditated way imaginable, I don't think there is anybody we can execute."

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