(January 21) -- On the afternoon before the trial of Theodore Kaczynski is set to resume, prosecutors said they believe the man suspected of being the Unabomber should have the right to represent himself.

The government, which has argued that the trial should go forward with Kaczynski's current legal team in place and no expert testimony about Kaczynski's mental state, said today in court papers that Kaczynski has the right to self-representation.

However, they said that today's filing was simply a legal analysis and not a change in their opinion that Kaczynski's decision to serve as his own counsel may not have been firm.

"It still is a matter of concern to us...that maybe Kaczynski didn't feel that maybe he was totally voluntarily willing to represent himself," said government spokesperson Leesa Brown.

However, if all the legal questions about self-representation have been answered, Brown pointed out, "basically none of us really have a choice, he has the right to represent himself if that's what he wants."

Prosecutor Robert Cleary and his team discussed Kaczynski's January 7 acknowledgement to U.S. District Court Judge Garland Burrell that he would not ask to represent himself -- and his contradictory request the next morning in court for that very thing.

They said in court papers that Kaczynski should not be barred from "asserting his constitutional right to self-representation when he changed his mind one day later."

They also said that Kaczynski's request was still timely -- one major issue the judge had asked both sides to consider in addressing the issue of Kaczynski defending himself.

The defense also filed papers today saying that they believed the request was not untimely. Burrell had asked both sides to comment on legal issues surrounding the question of Kaczynski serving as his own lawyer.

One major concern about his self-representation -- aside from worries about what effect his mental problems might have on the trial proceedings -- was that too much had occurred in the trial already for a change of counsel. While opening arguments have not yet begun, the trial itself has been going since November 12 of last year.

In addition, reports earlier in the day indicated that talks between lawyers for Kaczynski and the Justice Department had started again. One source told the Associated Press that Kaczynski dropped a request not to be placed in a psychiatric facility, and apparently the only point the defense has not capitulated on is the right to appeal the legal propriety of the FBI's initial search on Kaczynski's Montana cabin.

Justice Department officials said last week that they were awaiting the results of a competency ruling on Kaczynski before proceeding with negotiations.

Several details of Dr. Sally Johnson's sealed psychiatric evaluation of Kaczynski were revealed yesterday. One lawyer associated with the case told the New York Times that Johnson had indeed found Kaczynski to be a paranoid schizophrenic -- already widely believed to be the illness he suffers from -- and that Kaczynski "actually does resort to violence against those individuals and organizations that he believes are hurting him."

Johnson's finding that Kaczynski is mentally ill was not necessarily related to her finding that he would be able to stand trial. Competency standards are based on a defendant's ability to understand and participate in trial proceedings, not a diagnosed mental illness.

Judge Burrell has scheduled for the jury in the case to return Thursday morning at 10 A.M. PST, and said yesterday he plans to resolve the issues surrounding Kaczynski's defense between 8 A.M. and 10 A.M., just before opening arguments would presumably begin.

Burrell will have the final say about who will represent the former Berkeley math professor. But Kaczynski has stated he wants to represent himself -- and because his right to self-representation is constitutionally protected, the judge will need to be extremely careful in his reasoning when it comes to any decision about Kaczynski's lawyers.

"Burrell may be forcing the attorneys on Kaczynski in a way that's legally questionable," said Joshua Dressler, a law professor at McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento who has been sitting in on courtroom proceedings. "Judge Burrell has decided that the train's leaving the station on 10 A.M. Thursday, and he doesn't seem to care as much as he did in the past about where that train's going to end up."

His decision could hinge on the December conversations held in his chambers with Kaczynski and his lawyers. At that time, Kaczynski agreed to continue with his defense team, provided they did not call expert witnesses to address the issue of Kaczynski's apparent mental illness. Burrell will need to make sure that when Kaczynski agreed to the December arrangement, he understood exactly what his lawyers were able to do.

They gave up the right to expert testimony, but kept the right to call lay witnesses, such as Kaczynski's friends or family, to testify about Kaczynski's mental state. It is an oft-missed legal subtlety, and if Kaczynski misunderstood his lawyers' intentions, it could be a primary issue in appealing a possible conviction.

"It's certainly a risk, unless that transcript from December is very clear," said Dressler.

Meanwhile, federal magistrate Gregory Hollows ordered the government Wednesday afternoon to reveal what it knows about a possible second "secret shack" Kaczynski may have used in Montana, but said that any such evidence was probably not significant.

"In a sense, you've seen one shack, you've seen them all," said Hollows.

The defense pointed to writings by Kaczynski describing a second cabin "where I can still feel sure of privacy" and demanded the government divulge any discoveries it had made.

But the government filed a response yesterday which acknowledged that agents had searched for such a cabin, and had approached Kaczynski three times in September 1996 to ask about the buildings, explaining to the erudite recluse their concerns about "potential public safety issues."

The government told Kaczynski that any evidence found in the shacks would not be used against him, but Kaczynski refused to cooperate, saying only that there were "no public safety concerns."

"The government has located structures in the area but has no way of ascertaining whether such structures are the same as those referred in Kaczynski's writings," prosecutors said in court papers.

They also said they would be willing to share photographs of the abandoned buildings found using Kaczynski's writings, but that no evidence was ever seized from any of these dwellings and that they had no plans to use them in their case.

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.