Una Bomber Essay - 858 Words

The UNAbomber crimes and conviction
Theodore (Ted) John Kacyzynski began his bombing spree in 1978 causing 3 fatalities and 23 injuries over an 18 year span, until his arrest in 1996. He was able to avoid capture while the FBI had an extensive investigation into the identity of the UNAbomber.
The term UNAbomber is derived from his selection of targets, universities and airlines. The man whom this title was given was the leading mathematician of his generation. Ted had an Intelligence Quotient score of 167(ChicagoTribune,2008), well above that of a genius. Ted had excelled academically skipping multiple grades and attending Harvard University at age 16. He earned his PHD at age 25 and became a professor at the University of California Berkeley at the same age. However he had grown increasingly more distant socially, eventually leaving his academic career and moving to a remote cabin near Lincoln, Montana.
It was here in his 100 square foot shack where he waged his war against the industrialization and advancing technology, he believed were destroying America(Biographylatenight). He carried out many attacks using home-made explosive devices which were sent through the mail or sometimes delivered in person. His tactics were flawless, giving the FBI no clues to his identity and causing the FBI to create false profiles, to which he did not match whatsoever. The first lead the authorities got was an eyewitness to the placing of a bomb at the rear entrance of a computer shop in Salt Lake City in February 1987. The bomb exploded resulting in the injury of Gary Wright. The description given to police is the famous sketch of the man with sunglasses in the hooded sweatshirt, which became known nationwide. This however, didn’t give the FBI much to go on.
Ted disappeared and did not attack for over 6 years, causing many investigators to believe he had died. On June 22nd 1993, Dr. Charles Epstein was injured by a bomb mailed to his home in California(BBC.co.uk). The UNAbomber was back, he launched several attacks in 1993 and 1994 resulting in multiple injuries and 2 fatalities. Finally in 1995 the biggest lead came in the form of an 8 page manifesto sent to and printed by the New York Times. Kacyzynski had written of his beliefs and anti-technology views in this manifesto that he wanted shared with the world. He had promised no more attacks with this being published, perhaps that would’ve proven true.
Dave Kacyzynski had read the published manifesto after being encouraged by his wife. Afterward he concluded that there were many similarities to the thoughts and views his brother Ted had expressed to his on multiple occasions. Dave contacted the FBI, which led to the quiet arrest of Ted in his secluded shack on April 3rd 1996.(trutv.com)
The trial had been set to begin November 12th 1997, however was delayed several times due to Ted’s request to a new attorney, because he did not approve of the defense of insanity that his representation was going for. He had refused psychological evaluations multiple times and it was agreed that none would take place. Kacyzynski had requested a celebrity lawyer Tony Serra, the judge refused this deeming it inappropriate. Kacyznski then requested to represent himself. The judge agreed, but in order to do such he would need psychiatric evaluation to prove

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