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		The worst show on earth PAGE 2 OF 2 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Anything else to look for in Kaczynski? Major depression, which is acute now because his worldview is crumbling. He's faced with having to give up the house of cards that has kept him partially sane. If his worldview of the threat of technology justifying murder is seen as simply insane, and therefore invalid, then his whole life has been worthless. That's a very depressing conclusion that I don't think he's capable of bearing. What makes you think that? He seems to have gotten much worse since the issue of his insanity defense has come up. That was what presumably led to his suicide attempt. You're seeing an acute suicidal depression that's emerging underneath as his paranoid defenses are challenged and begin to crumble. What would happen if he is found not competent to stand trial? He would be treated against his will in a mental hospital. Usually, defendants who are found not competent initially come back and are tried once they've been given medication and whatever other treatment is deemed appropriate. They are tried when they are cured, or more usually when their symptoms are under control. You believe Kaczynski is incompetent to stand trial? I believe he is, though I haven't examined him. But everyone knows. The cop on the corner knows he's a loon. Even before he tried to commit suicide. Normally, someone who puts his head through a noose and says, "I hate this life, get me out of here," should not be considered competent to stand trial. If he walked into a community mental health clinic at that point, and was deemed to be a danger to himself, he could be held against his will for treatment. If he were in a hotel room trying to hang himself with his underwear and brought in to a clinic by the police, he would be deemed incompetent and would lose his civil rights despite the Bill of Rights. So how might the court-appointed psychiatrist find him competent? Well she could find that he's not psychotic, though I think that's unlikely. She could find him psychotic but "compensated." That is, even though he's got some ideas that people would regard as delusional, he is quite capable of understanding the proceedings. He doesn't have to be working well with an attorney. He doesn't have to be a good attorney to be allowed to represent himself. It's a very low test. It's dumbed down and made easy to say he's competent. It's much more difficult -- but correct -- to say that he is a paranoid schizophrenic who is decompensating as the psychotic nature of his beliefs come into question, that he's also acutely suicidal. On that basis alone, he's incompetent in my book. But, in defense attorney Ronald Kuby's words, if he can tell the difference between the judge and a grapefruit ... That's the thing. Dumbing it down. The easy way out on this one is to say he's competent because he's got a 160 IQ and he can answer some simple questions about what the proceedings are, that he said, "Yes of course I'll work with the attorney." And the judge will have no choice -- I think he isn't particularly imaginative anyway -- but to let the trial go on. And it'll be a circus like Colin Ferguson, who represented himself (with Kuby as his legal advisor). You don't think Kaczynski should be allowed to be his own attorney? What will happen if he's deemed competent -- which means nobody will be treating him -- and argues his own case in court? His fantasy probably is that he'll get a platform from which to argue the validity of his beliefs, and in some way to try to justify his actions. To Kaczynski, it almost doesn't matter if he's executed because he'd be a martyr in his own mind. "The world wasn't ready to hear the truth I had to offer." But the reality will be that as his anxiety rises, under the circumstances of the trial, as the prosecutor cross-examines him and rattles him, he'll become more and more out of control. His actions and perhaps his behavior will become idiosyncratic and bizarre, as you saw with Colin Ferguson. Some observers think that Kaczynski may be crazy like a fox, that he has known exactly when and how to disrupt the proceedings, in order to save his life. Oh sure. The less you know about him, it might seem that way. But I also think it might save his life because the jurors may have second thoughts about imposing the death penalty after seeing him come apart in the courtroom. Depending upon how disorganized he becomes, it might become a mistrial. He can't try his own case if he has to be kept in another room watching it on television. SALON | Jan. 15, 1998 Ros Davidson is a regular contributor who has been interviewing experts on the Kaczynski case for Salon. Ted Kaczynski: Kook or crazy like a fox? Join the discussion in Headlines. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -