The Unabomber trial

But later Burrell agreed to allow Kaczynski to undergo a psychiatric evaluation. “I’m going to trust him,” Burrell said of Kaczynski’s promise to cooperate with mental health professionals.

The latest development was clearly upsetting to one of Kaczynski’s defense attorneys, Judy Clarke. “This is a tragedy at its worst.This is a bad situation for everybody,” she said. “It’s sad for the victims who have to keep coming to court. It’s sad for the situation that Theodore Kaczynski finds himself in.” Kaczynski has pleaded innocent to charges related to a string of bombings between 1979 to 1995 that killed three people and injured 23.

He faces a 10-count indictment for killing two Sacramento men and maiming two scientists. If convicted, he could face the death penalty. He faces a third murder charge in New Jersey.

Since his trial was to begin on Monday, Kaczynski has whipsawed legal proceedings with his demands while Judge Burrell has laboured to keep the trial on track. The Harvard-educated former university professor said he was ready to proceed immediately and was not seeking a delay in the trial, though establishing his competence could take weeks.

Lawyers are wrangling over evaluation parameters. Prosecutors want him under 24-hour psychiatric surveillance in prison while Kaczynski’s attorneys have pushed for testingby local mental health professionals.

In rejecting Kaczynski’s bid to get a new attorney, Burrell had also ruled that the defense may introduce “indirect evidence” — or non-expert testimony and evidence — of mental instability.

If Kaczynski is represented by attorneys, the ruling ensures they cannot present a mental defect defense complete with psychiatric experts, but they can call friends and family to testify about his mental state.

The star witness for the defence is Kaczynski’s brother, David, who tipped off investigators that the Unabomber was in all probability his older brother. His mother is also expected to testify. His small, cluttered cabin has been shipped here from the mountains of Montana and can also be submitted as evidence so that jurors could wander through it to get a possible insight into Kaczynski’s thinking. Apparently motivated by a hatred of modern technology, the so-called Unabomber is blamed for 16 attacks between 1979 and 1995.

Theodore Kaczynski was arrested in April 1996 at his spartan Montana cabin where he had lived as a recluse for more than two decades. Authorities said they found numerous writings linking him to the bombings.

The evidence against Kaczynski also allegedly includes the typewriter on which the Unabomber’s 35,000-word anti-technology manifesto was produced and a carbon copy of the document.