Unabomber May Want New Trial

Ted Kaczynski has been serving a life sentence after pleading guilty in a deadly 17-year bombing spree. Now, instead of roaming the Montana wilderness, he is confined to what's been called the Alcatraz of the Rockies in Florence, Colorado.

CBS affiliate KCNC-TV's Rick Sallinger wrote to him there, and received nine letters in return, from a man angry about the outcome of his case and upset with those who disturbed his solitude in Montana. His letters describe how he set traps to injure motorcyclists, and vandalized their equipment: "I put sugar in the gas tanks and slashed the tires, then quietly walked back to my campsite."

Kaczynski refused to stand trial in the Unabomber case because he wouldn't let his lawyers use an insanity defense. He's indicated that he feels his guilty plea was coerced. His letters to Sallinger give a clue that he's not satisfied with his plea.

In response to a request for an interview, he writes, "Dear Mr. Sallinger. . .I've been advised by a very well-qualified attorney to avoid contacts with the media until my legal position has been clarified."
A friend of Kaczynski's, Mary Spurlin, says that his hope for a new trial keeps him going through the drudgery and boredom of prison. Neighbors continue to write to Kaczynski there, and struggle to understand him.

"We didn't know the Unabomber," says Dick Lundberg. "We knew Ted Kaczynski and I feel that it's two different people in the same body."
Even so, his friends are happy that Kaczynski is in jail. Asked if she hopes her friend gets out of jail, Eileen Lundberg says: "I hope not, I hope not."

Kaczynski has reportedly written a book, which he wants to get published. This complex, troubled man may have lost his freedom, but he hasn't lost his desire to share his thoughts and views.