Unabombs Away

SACRAMENTO: Jury selection begins Wednesday in the trial of accused Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski , and almost no one believes him innocent. Which is why Kaczynski's two attorneys, facing the mountain of evidence against their client, are shifting their attention for now to the jury that will hear it.

"Defense attorneys are looking for a sympathetic type," said TIME's David S. Jackson after interviewing lawyers watching both sides of the case. "People with a distrust of authority, of the government, who may be willing to look closely at Kaczynski's political beliefs, or who would be receptive to expert testimony on his mental state."

The prosecution, says Jackson, wants just the opposite; the people most abhorrent of Unabomber's style of justice are those most comfortable in the society he detested: "Middle-aged people with jobs, with families, people with a stake in the community. And the Sacramento area is filled with such people -- retirees, former government employees, former military."

With the character of Kaczynski's peers so crucial to his case, selection will be contentious. Each side has 20 chances to reject a juror without argument -- choosing 12 and 6 alternates will probably take several weeks. "Anyone who is overly sympathetic, or who refuses to vote the death penalty, will be left off," Jackson says. "This jury will be death-penalty qualified."

Behind the scenes, the two sides are still haggling over the introduction of evidence from out-of-state bombings. But for now the silent Kaczynski, who still refuses to submit to psychiatric testing, seems intent on sealing his own fate.

Time.com

Unabombs Away

Jury selection begins Wednesday in the trial of accused Unabomber Theodore Kacszynski, and almost no one believes him innocent. Which is why Kacszynski's two attorneys, facing the mountain of evidence against their client, are shifting their attention for now to the jury that will hear it.