Kaczynski tried to kill himself, lawman says

Thursday, Jan. 8, 1998 | 2:30 a.m.

Sacramento County Undersheriff Lou Blanas confirmed the suicide attempt had taken place. Courtroom observers said red marks were visible on Kaczynski's neck during an abbreviated court session today, but no mention of the attempt was made in open court.

Indeed, today's court session - which was expected to feature opening statements - instead revolved around the surprise issue of Kaczynski's competency to serve as his own attorney.

Lead defense attorney Quin Denvir had no immediate comment on the incident.

Blanas said Kaczynski arrived at the federal courthouse this morning without his underwear.

"We searched his cell. We can't find his underwear. We assume they were flushed down the toilet," Blanas said.

Kaczynski will be placed on 24-hour watch, in a cell monitored by a remote-controlled camera, Blanas said.

"He's been a model prisoner for the last 18 months," he said.

Kaczynski, who had fought to avoid psychological testing earlier in the case, agreed in court today to undergo such tests, to prove that he is competent to be his own attorney.

Despite the protests of government prosecutors, who questioned the sincerity of Kaczynski's offer, U.S. District Judge Garland Burrell Jr. said he believed Kaczynski would submit to the tests.

"It is absolutely clear to me that the record to date justifies the government articulating that position," Burrell said. Nevertheless, the judge said, "I'm going to trust him."

Kaczynski - who interrupted Monday's court session by renewing a request to fire his lawyers - brought the trial to a halt again today by making the new self-representation motion through defense lawyer Judy Clarke.

"He feels he has no choice but to go on as his own counsel," Clarke told Burrell.

Clarke said the mental illness defense planned by the lawyers - over the bitter objections of their client - is a "situation that he cannot endure."

Clarke emphasized that Kaczynski was ready to proceed today and was not seeking a delay in the trial.

But Burrell said Kaczynski's competency would have to be established before he could rule on the request.

Burrell ordered the defense and prosecution to try to agree on one or two psychiatrists to examine Kaczynski. If they cannot agree, Burrell said, a hearing on the matter will be held on Friday.

Prosecutors had urged Burrell to order Kaczynski held at a federal psychiatric facility for 30 days. Lead prosecutor Robert Cleary, citing Kaczynski's earlier adamant refusal to be examined by government experts, said that putting Kaczynski in that setting would at least allow him to be observed if he refused to participate in the tests.

But Burrell said his conversations with the defendant in recent days left him convinced that the promise to cooperate was genuine.

"I think all the factors line up on doing it locally," he said. "It can all be done much quicker that way."

Burrell brought in outside attorney Kevin Clymo - who has been advising Kaczynski throughout the dispute with his lawyers - to help present the defendant's position in the discussion of his competency.

Kaczynski's 11th-hour request was not the only hitch in the trial today; Burrell announced at the start of the day that an alternate juror had called in sick and was planning to see a doctor later in the day.

It was not immediately clear whether Burrell would have been willing to go on with the case in the absence of the alternate juror.

Kaczynski's has long objected to a defense based on his mental health. He wrote in a journal entry years before his arrest that he feared being labeled a "sickie."

He has tried several times in recent weeks to dismiss Clarke and Denvir, and said Wednesday that he wanted to hire flamboyant San Francisco attorney Tony Serra, who had proposed a defense based on Kaczynski's anti-technology philosophy.

Burrell rejected that request, siding with prosecutors who argued that it was far too late in the process to change attorneys.

Kaczynski faces a 10-count indictment covering four Unabomber attacks that killed two Sacramento men and maimed two scientists. If convicted in the last of the attacks - the only one to occur after the federal death penalty was reinstated - he could be condemned to death.