Attorney: Tylenol Killing Suspect 'An Innocent Person'

CHICAGO (CBS) -- The attorney for Tylenol killer suspect James Lewis tells Newsradio 780 it is significant that the FBI is now going after someone else--namely, the Unabomber-- to see if he can also be linked to the 1982 Tylenol murders that left seven dead.

LISTEN: Newsradio 780's Steve Miller Reports

First of all, says James Lewis's attorney David Meier, it's been almost a year and a half since Lewis' house in Massachusetts was raided--and presumably his DNA was collected. There have been no further developments with regard to Lewis.

Lewis was convicted of extortion in connection to the 1982 Tylenol poisonings, but never charged with the deaths. Lewis sent a letter to Tylenol maker Johnson & Johnson demanding $1 million to stop the cyanide-induced murders. Police were unable to link him with the crimes. Seven people in Chicago died as a result of taking pills tainted by cyanide.

"Far more significantly, there have been substantive developments with respect to other individuals [which] speaks for itself," Meier said.

"Other individuals" in this case being Unabomber Ted Kaczynski.

Meier says it "speaks loud and clear about [Lewis'] status as an innocent person."

However, one observer told Newsradio 780 that collecting Kaczynski's DNA may be the government's way of ruling him out as a suspect.