US v. Kaczynski

No. 04-10158 (7-21-05). This is an interesting issue: what happens to the unabomber's property. His belongings were seized upon his arrest in a Montana cabin in 1996. The case ended with denial of cert of his habeas petition in 2002. As part of his sentence, and plea, the defendant had agreed to pay restitution in the amount $15+ million. He also was ordered to turn over any profits from his celebrity. Defendant now wants to turn over his property to the University of Michigan collection of protest writings. The gov't had long indicated that his property had negligible value; now it says that it will value it, turn the money over to the victims, and keep the property. The 9th held that this wasn't proper and didn't comport with the victim restitution statutes. The case was remanded for the gov't to come up with a plan to maximize the property's worth in order to provide restitution. If the gov't doesn't, or the plan is found wanting, and the property is of negligible value, then it shall be returned to the defendant.