Unabomber Wants His Bomb Back

Unabomber Ted Kaczynski has asked the government to return his personal papers and other materials, including a bomb seized by the FBI.

Kaczynski asked a federal judge to make the government ship the materials to a University of Michigan archive that already contains more than 15,000 of his papers.

On his list are a pipe bomb and his voluminous autobiography, said R. Steven Lapham, one of the federal prosecutors who tried the case. Other items include Kaczynski's tools, a can of matches, a pair of tweezers and a hatchet confiscated when he was arrested at his Montana cabin.

Kaczynski is serving life without the possibility of parole at a prison in Colorado. He killed three men and injured 23 other people in 16 bombings, according to the government and Kaczynski's own guilty plea. The bombings occurred between 1978 and 1995, when information provided by his brother led to his arrest at his remote cabin.

Lapham would not discuss whether Kaczynski is entitled to the material, but legal experts said the government would probably be allowed to keep them.

Kaczynski concedes the issue is complex, and legal rulings are inconsistent. But he said the government should release the material for the sake of posterity.

"This Court should take into consideration Kaczynski's interest, the public's interest, and the interest of scholars and researchers in the knowledge to be obtained from the study of Kaczynski's documents," Kaczynski wrote. "Such study will help to reveal the true facts of Kaczynski's case."