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)
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Source: Voice of America
.