(January 16) -- Dr. Sally Johnson, who was called to Sacramento last week to test Theodore Kaczynski's competency to stand trial, is expected to wrap up her work and turn in her report Saturday.

U.S. District Judge Garland Burrell allowed Johnson until Saturday to complete her report, giving her extra time to put her evaluation of Kaczynski down on paper.

That advice will help Burrell make a decision next week at a hearing that will determine the alleged Unabomber's fate.

Johnson, a government psychiatrist from the federal prison in Butner, North Carolina, has spent the week in the lineup room at the Sacramento County jail where Kaczynski is being held, talking with the man suspected of being the Unabomber as his lawyers watch, unable to listen to her work.

The judge will allow the defense to see her report, but will only give prosecutor Robert Cleary and his team an edited copy, again to protect Kaczynski's rights. Burrell indicated the government will eventually get access at a later date. The report will not be made public.

The government, meanwhile, asked the court late this week to hold a discussion about Kaczynski's options for counsel -- should he be found competent. Though they asked that the debate occur before the competency hearing next Thursday, it is unlikely that the judge will accommodate their request before then.

Among the issues they want to cover are which lawyers might help defend Kaczynski, and whether a mental defect defense can be used against Kaczynski's wishes, as well as the possible issue of his self-representation.

"The government does not believe the Court should take action that results in a defendant representing himself in a capital case unless there is no other course open to the Court," they said in court papers. "The Court should direct current defense counsel to continue to represent the defendant and to abide by the defendant's wishes concerning the mental defect defense. If defense counsel decline to comply, the Court should use its civil contempt authority to compel compliance."

Kaczynski requested to serve as his own counsel after requests to switch lawyers last week was turned down by Judge Burrell. He has been battling with his defense lawyers for a number of months over their plan to use a mental defect defense. One issue Johnson will need to help the judge determine is whether Kaczynski has the mental ability to represent himself.

Her real work will likely come next week, when the court holds a competency hearing to determine if Kaczynski is able to stand trial. Exactly how far she will go in making that determination is unclear, but she is only required to offer her opinion about Kaczynski's mental problems and abilities. The decision to let the trial continue rests with the judge.

Johnson is no stranger to high-profile cases. In 1989, she found televangelist Jim Bakker able to go to trial, and in 1981, she tested attempted Reagan assissin John Hinckley, Jr. and found him competent as well.

Because Kaczynski faces the death penalty if convicted, the judge's freedom to rule on this issue may help prevent Kaczynski from unwittingly being convicted.

"I think it's a mistake to say the standard for whether you can represent yourslf is the same as whether you can go to trial," said Richard Dieter, director of the Death Penalty Information Center. "It's a big leap to say that you're competent to waive your right to counsel and know all that implies."

The current trial will cover incidents in 1985 and 1995, as well as two bombings in 1993. A separate trial will cover charges against Kaczynski for a 1994 bombing in New Jersey.

Federal authorities believe that Kaczynski, 55, is the Unabomber, responsible for sixteen mail and package bombs that killed three people and injured 23 during between 1978 and 1995 in attacks across the country.