Kaczynski Loses Bid To Suppress Evidence
A federal judge denied a defense motion Friday to suppress virtually all of the evidence seized from Unabomber suspect Theodore Kaczynski’s remote Montana cabin.
The evidence, including a journal in which Kaczynski allegedly admits responsibility for the Unabomber attacks and an unexploded bomb, is at the heart of the prosecution’s case.
The evidence also includes the manuscript of the “manifesto” in which the Unabomber described the evils of a technological society, as well as chemicals, tools, machinery, books and other material, according to prosecutors.
Defense lawyers had argued that agents improperly obtained a search warrant for Kaczynski’s cabin by misrepresenting comments from his family.
But “common-sense and realistic” reading of the affidavit showed that it offered substantial justification for the search,” U.S. District Judge Garland Burrell Jr. ruled.
The search warrant affidavit “provided a substantial basis for concluding a fair probability that … evidence of a crime would be found in defendant’s home,” he said.
Defense lawyer Quin Denvir said Burrell had also denied a request for a hearing on the matter.
“We just continue on,” Denvir said. “We’ve come to kind of always hope for the best and expect the worst. That’s criminal defense.”
Kaczynski, 55, a former Berkeley math professor, faces a 10-count indictment charging him with four California Unabomber cases - two fatal explosions in Sacramento a decade apart, and two other attacks which maimed two San Francisco-area academics.
Kaczynski is also charged in a third fatal blast in New Jersey. He will be tried in that case after the California charges are resolved.
He has pleaded innocent to all charges. If convicted, he could face the death penalty.
Denvir and fellow federal defender Judy Clarke had argued that all of the cabin evidence should be thrown out because FBI agents - in their zeal to make Kaczynski the prime suspect - had twisted the facts to their advantage.
Denvir and Clarke provided statements from Kaczynski’s mother, Wanda, and brother, David, who said that remarks they had made were mischaracterized or taken out of context by agents who prepared the request for the cabin search warrant.