DATE=5/4/98
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
NUMBER=2-230683
TITLE=UNABOMBER SENTENCED (L)
BYLINE=MIKE O'SULLIVAN
DATELINE=LOS ANGELES
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: IN SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA, A FORMER MATHEMATICS PROFESSOR
HAS BEEN SENTENCED TO LIFE IN PRISON FOR MASTERMINDING THE
"UNABOMBER" CAMPAIGN THAT KILLED THREE PEOPLE AND SERIOUSLY
INJURED TWO OTHERS. AS WE HEAR FROM MIKE O'SULLIVAN IN V-O-A'S
WEST COAST BUREAU, VICTIMS GAVE EMOTIONAL TESTIMONY AT THE
SENTENCING HEARING MONDAY MORNING.
TEXT: THE SENTENCE WAS KNOWN BEFOREHAND. THEODORE KACZYNSKI HAD
AGREED TO FOUR CONSECUTIVE LIFE TERMS -- WITHOUT PAROLE -- PLUS
AN ADDITIONAL 30 YEARS IN PRISON. THE PLEA AGREEMENT SPARED HIM
THE DEATH PENALTY.
AT HIS SENTENCING HEARING MONDAY, THE CONVICTED "UNABOMBER"
COMPLAINED THAT PROSECUTORS HAD MISREPRESENTED HIM, PORTRAYING
HIM AS A COLD-BLOODED KILLER BENT ON ACHIEVING REVENGE.
KACZYNSKI SAID, " BY DISCREDITING ME PERSONALLY, THEY HOPE TO
DISCREDIT MY POLITICAL IDEAS." HE SAID HE WOULD RESPOND FURTHER
TO THE GOVERNMENT'S CHARGES IN WRITING.
IN A RAMBLING MANIFESTO PUBLISHED BEFORE HIS ARREST, KACZYNSKI
CLAIMED TO BE WAGING A CAMPAIGN AGAINST TECHNOLOGY. BUT IN
PASSING SENTENCE, DISTRICT COURT JUDGE GARLAND BURRELL SAID
KACZYNSKI HAD COMMITTED UNSPEAKABLE AND MONSTROUS CRIMES FOR
WHICH HE SHOWED NO REMORSE. SEVERAL VICTIMS SPOKE IN COURT,
INCLUDING SUSAN MOSSER, THE WIDOW OF AN ADVERTIZING EXECUTIVE
KILLED BY A PACKAGE BOMB HE RECEIVED IN THE MAIL. SHE DESCRIBED
THE CONTENTS OF THE EXPLOSIVE DEVICE, WHICH INCLUDED RAZOR
BLADES, PIPES AND NAILS. AND SHE DESCRIBED THE SCENE AS HER
DAUGHTER WATCHED HER HUSBAND DIE.
THEODORE KACZYNSKI HAD BEEN A MATHEMATICS PROFESSOR, WHO BECAME
INCREASINGLY RECLUSIVE AS HE WAGED HIS BOMBING CAMPAIGN FROM 1978
TO 1995. IN 16 SEPARATE BOMBINGS, THREE PEOPLE WERE KILLED AND
MORE THAN 20 INJURED -- TWO SERIOUSLY.
A COURT-APPOINTED PSYCHIATRIST FOUND KACZYNSKI SUFFERS FROM
PARANOID SCHIZOPHRENIA, WHICH OPENED THE WAY IN JANUARY FOR A
PLEA AGREEMENT.
KACZYNSKI'S BROTHER, DAVID -- WHO FIRST ALERTED AUTHORITIES TO
THE POSSIBLITY THAT HIS BROTHER WAS THE UNABOMBER -- PRAISED THE
VICTIMS WHO SPOKE IN COURT AND APOLOGIZED FOR HIS FAMILY.
(SIGNED)
NEB/MOS/WDC/PLM
04-May-98 2:57 PM EDT (1857 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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