(December 11) -- The first stage in selecting a jury in the trial of Theodore Kaczynski has ended, with 85 of the 170 prospective jurors who took the stand --exactly half -- remaining in the jury pool.

Next will come challenges against specific jurors by both sides in an attempt to whittle the pool of 85 down to 12, plus 6 alternates.

Veteran federal defender Quin Denvir and his defense team have been attempting to find jurors with with lenient views on the death penalty in order to spare his client's life, no matter the outcome of the trial. Two of the ten charges against Kaczynski carry the death penalty.

Opening arguments are tentatively scheduled for December 29.

Lawyers for both sides still await U.S. District Judge Garland Burrell's decision on whether Theodore Kaczynski's defense team will be able to use expert psychiatric testimony and mount a mental health defense.

Burrell will likely place at least some limits on the experts the defense can use, but will probably allow expert testimony. He has made clear that he is not in favor of the government's recommendation to exclude expert mental health testimony and therefore make a mental health defense impossible. But the defendant's refusal to comply with the wishes of the court make the defense team's lot an increasingly difficult one.

Even if Kaczynski's lawyers mount a defense based on his mental health, he may not cooperate. That could raise the issue of his competency to stand trial, something the judge may have to decide in the near future.

Federal authorities believe that Kaczynski, 55, is the Unabomber, responsible for sending packaged bombs in the mail that killed three people and injured 23 during between 1978 and 1995 in attacks across the country. He was arrested on April 3, 1996 in rural Montana, where he had lived for most of the past 26 years.

During the early stages of the case, federal authorities coined the name "Unabomber" because universities and airlines were early targets.