Kaczynski taken off suicide watch

January 18, 1998
Web posted at: 8:57 p.m. EDT (2057 GMT)

SACRAMENTO, California (CNN) -- Theodore Kaczynski, suspected of trying to hang himself a week and a half ago, has been taken off suicide watch.

A spokesman for the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department confirmed to CNN that Kaczynski had been moved off suicide watch Saturday and returned to his old cell. He had been housed in a special cell in the jail's psychiatric unit where he could be monitored 24 hours a day.

The decision to move Kaczynski was made by the jail's medical staff, the spokesman said.

Kaczynski, 55, is accused of being the elusive Unabomber, believed responsible for killing three people and injuring 29 others with 16 mail bomb attacks over a nearly 18-year period.

He is currently being tried on charges that he killed two men and injured two others in four bomb attacks in Sacramento. Prosecutors are asking for the death penalty.

Psychiatrist turns in report

Meanwhile, Dr. Sally Johnson, a federal psychiatrist brought in to evaluate Kaczynski's mental competence, filed her findings with the judge late Saturday.

Johnson evaluated Kaczynski for 19 hours early in the week and made another visit to the jail to see him on Saturday.

Johnson

The sealed report she submitted to U.S. District Judge Garland Burrell has not been released, but the first glimpse of her findings may come at a court session Tuesday, when Burrell will decide whether a full competency hearing for Kaczynski is warranted. If so, that hearing would be held Thursday.

Johnson's evaluation was ordered by the judge after Kaczynski said he wanted to fire his lawyers and represent himself. He objects to his defense team's plans to introduce evidence of his alleged mental instability at his trial.

His attorneys believe Kaczynski is a paranoid schizophrenic, and say they cannot ethically represent him without raising issues of mental illness.

Sources tell CNN that the prosecution no longer objects to Kaczynski hiring new attorneys, which could delay the trial for weeks or even months. But the government will object to letting Kaczynski act as his own attorney.

Prosecutors have decided they would rather deal with a delay than increase the possibility of reversal on appeal, according to those sources.

But if Kaczynski is found competent, a U.S. Supreme Court ruling likely gives him the right to represent himself if he chooses. The judge could also try to force the current defense team to provide Kaczynski with the defense he wants.

A jury selected to hear the case against Kaczynski has been kept on standby as lawyers spent nearly two weeks wrangling over questions of mental illness. Jurors have been told to return Thursday, when the trial could resume.

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