Unabomber Trial To Begin In A Year

Attorneys for Unabomber suspect Theodore Kaczynski were given nearly a year Friday to prepare for his first trial.

Prosecutors wanted a trial no later than September, but U.S. District Judge Garland Burell set the date for Nov. 12, 1997.

Defense lawyers said they needed time to review file cabinets full of evidence in what federal defender Quin Denvir called “a monster case.”

Friday’s hearing marked Kaczynski’s first appearance in court since his June 25 arraignment, where he pleaded innocent to a 10-count indictment covering four Unabomber attacks that killed two people in Sacramento.

He also faces charges in New Jersey that include the murder of an advertising executive.

Federal authorities believe Kaczynski, 54, a Berkeley mathematics professor turned Montana recluse, used bombs in a terror campaign against the evils of technology that killed three people and injured 23 others between 1978 and 1995. He was arrested April 3 at his cabin in Lincoln, Mont.

Security was tight during the hearing, with several marshals posted in the courtroom and outside the door.