From the federal courthouse to the county jail, preparations were under way for an expected indictment of Unabomber suspect Theodore Kaczynski in the city where two people were killed by package bombs blamed on the elusive serial bomber.
New surveillance cameras were installed Monday at the courthouse and an armored car was brought in, presumably to transport Kaczynski from the jail to the courthouse and back after he is transferred to the city from Montana.Local media reported that police and traffic engineers were making arrangements for handling the crowds and traffic problems that a trial might cause.
An indictment of Kaczynski was expected to be handed up here sometime Tuesday, a federal source has told The Associated Press, charging the former math professor with crimes related to the 18-year bombing spree. Three deaths and 23 injuries have been blamed on the Unabomber.
The courthouse is just a few miles from the parking lot where the first Unabomber victim died and a few blocks from the lobbyists' office where the last victim died.
Hugh Scrutton, 38, was killed by a bomb found near his computer rental store in December 1985. In April 1995, a package bomb killed California Forestry Association President Gilbert P. Murray, 47.
Advertising executive Thomas Mosser, 50, was killed in his North Caldwell, N.J., home in December 1994 when he opened a package bomb. The case could eventually be combined into the expected Sacramento indictment.
Kaczynski, 54, has been held without bond in a Helena, Mont., jail since his April 3 arrest. He has not been charged in the Unabomber case, only with possession of bomb-making materials that investigators said they found in his remote mountain cabin.
The timing of the expected indictment was not immediately clear. It also was unclear when Kaczynski might be brought to Sacramento. The source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Kaczynski could be transferred by the end of the week.
According to an FBI affidavit released last week, DNA tests of saliva found on two letters - one sent by the Unabomber and one by Kaczynski to his family - showed a genetic link.
An FBI investigation in the two months before Kaczynski's arrest also found common phrases and misspellings between his writings and documents authorities say were penned by the Unabomber, the affidavit said.
In the subsequent search, Justice Department sources have said that items found in the cabin included the original copy of the Unabomber's 35,000-word, anti-technology manifesto, a typewriter used for the manifesto, bombs and bomb parts, detonators and even the 9-digit identification number used by the bomber.
At the Sacramento County Jail, Kaczynski would be held apart from the general prison population, sheriff's spokeswoman Sharon Telles said.
"He'll have more amenities here than he did in his cabin," she said.
Quin Denvir, who recently became federal defender for the district including Sacramento, would probably lead Kaczynski's defense.
Asked Monday about the possible assignment, Denvir said, "We're waiting to see what happens and we'll take it from there."
Denvir, 56, is "widely regarded as one of two or three ablest defense attorneys in this state," said J. Anthony Kline, presiding justice for the state's 1st District Court of Appeal.
"He's cool under fire," Kline said. "This is a guy who knows the law extremely well."