Harsh details amid Unabomber pleas Victims' families hear accounts of

  Kaczynski crimes

  Martin Kasindorf;Jonathan T. Lovitt

  01/23/1998

  USA Today

  FINAL

  Page 08A

  (Copyright 1998)

  SACRAMENTO -- Before the court hearing on the Unabomber plea agreement

  began Thursday, Connie Murray, the widow of victim Gilbert Murray, was

  sharing a laugh with relatives in a government spectator row.

  But when it came time for defendant Theodore Kaczynski, 55, to openly admit

  what he had done to her husband in 1995, Connie Murray's head drooped. Her

  sister-in-law, Jan Murray, put an arm around her shoulder to brace her for what

  was to come.

  On count after count of two federal indictments, Kaczynski replied "Yes, your

  honor," as U.S. District Judge Garland Burrell asked him to confirm prosecutor

  Stephen Lapham's accounts of what he had done.

  Kaczynski spoke in a clear, confident voice in front of a packed courtroom.

  What Connie Murray and bombing victim Charles Epstein, a University of

  California geneticist, had to listen to was appalling.

  First, Lapham laid out the facts of the 1985 death of Hugh Scrutton, a computer

  store owner killed in his parking lot when he picked up a bomb disguised as

  construction debris.

  Lapham read Kaczynski's admission to the crime from an entry in journals seized

  at his Montana cabin in April 1996.

  "Excellent," Kaczynski wrote about the bombing. "Humane way to eliminate

  somebody. He probably never felt a thing. 25,000 reward offered. Rather

  flattering."

  Then Lapham read a letter Kaczynski wrote to a New York newspaper in June

  1995 about the killing that month of Gilbert Murray.

  President of the California Forestry Association, Murray had opened a package

  bomb addressed to his predecessor. "We have no regret about the fact that our

  bomb blew up the wrong man," Kaczynski wrote.

  Was this an accurate assessment of the facts, Burrell asked Kaczynski. "Yes,

  your honor," he said again.

  The government obtained Kaczynski's admissions to mailing or placing every

  one of the 16 Unabomber devices over nearly 18 years.

  By the end of the 90-minute session, Kaczynski's 80-year-old mother, Wanda

  Kaczynski, was dabbing at her eyes.

  His brother, David, 47, later expressed "deep relief" because of the plea bargain.

  He expressed sympathy with the Unabomber's victims, saying: "You have

  displayed remarkable grace, courage and dignity in your loss, and in this you are

  an inspiration to us. You will be in our hearts and thoughts forever."

  Referring to himself and his mother, he said that as a result of the settlement,

  "We are finally at a place where we can begin a process of healing."

  When he was finished reading his statement, David Kaczynski told reporters that

  that was all he had to say about the proceedings. They did not press him with

  questions as he and his mother walked away.

  Never once did Theodore Kaczynski acknowledge his family's presence.

  A competency report filed Saturday by federal prison psychiatrist Sally Johnson

  said Kaczynski is a paranoid schizophrenic who blames his family for a good

  part of his failure to fit into society.

  Thursday's proceedings marked the end to most of Kaczynski's federal legal

  problems. But state prosecutions and civil suits are still possible.

  Connie Murray said through a spokesman that she will pursue a civil wrongful

  death suit she filed against Kaczynski in federal U.S. court. Burrell had put the

  suit on hold until the criminal proceedings were over.

  California Gov. Pete Wilson denounced Thursday's plea bargain as a

  "miscarriage of justice."

  And Sacramento County District Attorney Jan Scully was weighing the

  possibility of filing state murder charges in connection with two Unabomber

  attacks there.

  Other state prosecutors said they were willing to let the federal government's deal

  end the matter rather than spend millions on new prosecutions.

  In Newark, N.J., Raymond Weiss, spokesman for the district attorney's office,

  said it was his understanding that a 1997 agreement to let the Justice Department

  handle the 1994 killing of advertising executive Thomas Mosser remained in

  effect.

  In New Haven, Conn., where Yale University computer scientist David Gelernter

  was badly injured in 1993, State's Attorney Michael Dearington said Kaczynski

  "was only facing 20 years, max, here. We couldn't top life without parole."

  And in Alameda County, Calif., site of two Unabomber crimes at the University

  of California-Berkeley, District Attorney Thomas Orloff said: "If he got life

  without parole, it doesn't make any sense to waste our resources. I think the

  people here will be relieved that it's over."

  That was also the conclusion of Joshua Dressler, a professor at Sacramento's

  McGeorge School of Law. "Everyone was looking for a way out," said Dressler.

  "This was the only sensible outcome."

  TEXT OF INFO BOX BEGINS HERE

  TIMELINE: FROM FIRST PACKAGE TO PLEA

  May 25, 1978: A package found in the University of Illinois parking lot in

  Chicago is returned to an address at Northwestern University. It explodes and

  injures a security officer.

  May 9, 1979: Two explosions, one at Northwestern and the other in the cargo

  hold of an in-flight airplane, injure a total of 13 people.

  June 10, 1980: The president of United Airlines is injured by a bomb that

  explodes after being sent to his home near Chicago.

  Oct. 8, 1981: A bomb is found at the University of Utah. No one is injured.

  1982: Bombs explode in Nashville May 5 and Berkeley, Calif., June 2. Two

  people are injured.

  1985: Bombs are left in Berkeley May 15; Auburn, Wash., June 13; Ann Arbor,

  Mich., Nov. 15; and Sacramento, Calif., Dec. 11. One person is killed; three

  injured.

  Feb. 20, 1987: Someone is seen placing a bomb in a Salt Lake City computer

  store. No injuries.

  1993: Bombs explode in California June 22 and Connecticut June 24. Two

  people are injured.

  Dec. 10, 1994: A bomb explodes in New Jersey. One person is killed.

  April, 25, 1995: A bomb explodes in the Sacramento office of a timber lobbyist.

  One person is killed.

  Sept. 19, 1995: The Washington Post and New York Times publish the

  Unabomber's 35,000-word "manifesto."

  April 3, 1996: Theodore Kaczynski is arrested in Montana after his brother reads

  the manifesto and tells authorities he recognizes the writing style.

  Nov. 12, 1997: Jury selection begins for Kaczynski's trial in Sacramento.

  Jan. 8, 1998: Opening statements are delayed when Kaczynski asks to defend

  himself. A competency evaluation is ordered.

  Jan. 17, 1998: A psychiatrist says Kaczynski is competent to stand trial.

  Jan. 22, 1998: Kaczynski agrees to a plea that sends him to prison for life.

  PHOTO, B/W,Vicki Berhinger, AP