<< Blog Scan | Main | News Scan >>


The Unabomber, Again

| 0 Comments
Theodore Kaczynski, a.k.a. the Unabomber, escaped the death penalty when the US Attorney in Sacramento decided that his schizophrenia was a sufficient mitigating circumstance to forgo seeking that penalty. But Kaczynski is not too crazy to litigate pro se from his prison cell, causing further distress to his victims. The Ninth Circuit wrote another chapter in this seemingly unending saga today.
Appellant Theodore John Kaczynski ("Kaczynski"), also known as the "Unabomber," appeals the district court's order approving the plan (the "Plan") developed, following an earlier remand by this court, to sell or to dispose of Kaczynski's personal property that was seized during the underlying criminal investigation into his bombings. Kaczynski contends: (1) the restitution lien statute, 18 U.S.C. ยง 3613, is facially unconstitutional and violates the First Amendment; (2) the Plan violates the First Amendment as applied by impinging his freedom of expression and restricting information from the public; and (3) the Plan impermissibly allows credit bids from the victims and allows destruction of "bomb-making materials" instead of returning them to his designee. For the reasons that follow, we affirm the district court's order approving the Plan.

After rejecting Kaczynski's arguments, there is an interesting section dealing with the conflicting interests of two sets of victims. One set has come forward and asked for Kaczynski's stuff to be sold to provide funds for restitution. Another set would prefer to remain anonymous and wants the papers destroyed.  "The [district] court hoped to minimize the undesirable impact of the sale by redacting the victims' names, other personal information, and descriptions of their injuries.... We cannot say that the district court committed legal error or otherwise abused its discretion in approving the Plan."

Leave a comment

Monthly Archives