Lawyers for each side have given vastly different versions of what they believe Nuss had on his mind as he drove to Maryland. Kalmbach said Nuss thought he was taking the children on a field trip to the White House and the Smithsonian Institution and had no intent to harm them.
But Robert Goldman, the assistant U.S. attorney prosecuting the case, called it a ''psychotic episode'' during which Nuss expected violence. Nuss had updated his will and inquired about veterans' burial benefits in the weeks before the incident. And 13 of the bullets found on the bus were in a separate bag from the rest, Goldman has noted in court, implying there was one for each student.
''When I heard that,'' Goldman said, ''it sent a chill down my spine.''
Otto L. Nuss, the school bus driver charged with kidnapping 13 Berks County students in January 2002, will plead guilty to kidnapping and spend four years in prison under a plea agreement released Friday by prosecutors. The story is at:
Jun 9 2003 The Boston Globe - PHILADELPHIA (AP) - A school bus driver with a history of mental illness pleaded guilty to federal kidnapping charges Monday for veering off his morning route and taking a group of children on a bizarre, 100-mile trip to suburban Washington, D.C.. Story at:
Driver to admit to bus ordeal
Posted - 06/06/2003 : 7:47:13 PM
