Kathleen Soliah
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Kathleen Ann Soliah (born January 16, 1947) is an American woman who was a member of the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) in the 1970s. She has lived most of her life under the alias Sara Jane Olson.
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[edit] Symbionese Liberation Army
After graduating from the University of California, Santa Barbara, Soliah moved to Berkeley, California with her boyfriend, Jim Kilgore. There, she met Angela Atwood at an acting audition where they both won lead roles. They became inseparable during the play's run. Atwood tried to sponsor Soliah into the SLA. Regardless, Soliah and Jim Kilgore, along with her brother Steve and sister Josephine followed the SLA closely. When Atwood and other core members of the SLA were killed in Watts, California, the Soliahs organized memorial rallies.
[edit] Crocker National Bank robbery and Myrna Opsahl murder
On April 21, 1975, SLA members robbed the Crocker National Bank in Carmichael, California, killing Myrna Opsahl, a bank customer, in the process. Soliah reportedly kicked a pregnant bank teller before exiting the bank. The woman lost her child as a result of her injury. Patty Hearst, who admitted to being a getaway driver, stated that Soliah was one of the actual robbers.
Several rounds of 9mm ammunition spilled on the floor during the robbery bore manufacturing marks that matched that of ammunition loaded in a 9mm Browning high power automatic pistol found by police in Soliah’s bedroom dresser drawer at the SLA safehouse on Precita Street in San Francisco.
[edit] Los Angeles Police Department bombs
On August 21, 1975, a bomb that had failed to detonate was discovered where a Los Angeles Police Department patrol car had been parked earlier in the day. Soliah was accused of planting the bomb in an attempt to avenge the slain SLA members.
The bomb was a pipe bomb rigged to detonate as the patrol cars drove away.
The evidence against Soliah was thin. Two witnesses who had testified in her grand jury indictment were dead. One was a plumber who had sold materials used in the bomb had picked Soliah out of a lineup as one of the buyers. The other was a bomb expert stated the explosive could have been built in Soliah's apartment. Police could not identify any fingerprints on the devices other than those of officers who had disarmed them.[1]
[edit] Underground existence and capture
In February 1976, a grand jury indicted Soliah in the bombing case. Soliah went underground and became a fugitive for 23 years. She returned with her husband and three daughters from Zimbabwe to St. Paul, Minnesota, having assumed the alias Sara Jane Olson. She was active in community issues and human rights campaigns. On March 3, 1999, and again on May 15, 1999, Soliah was profiled on the America's Most Wanted television program; after a tip, she was arrested on June 16, 1999, and was charged with conspiracy to commit murder, possession of explosives, explosion and attempt to ignite an explosive with intent to murder.
Shortly after her arrest, she legally changed her name to her alias, Sara Jane Olson. Her community raised a substantial amount of money to post bond for her, demonstrating that she had become accepted under her new identity, and she published a cookbook entitled Serving Time: America's Most Wanted Recipes. On October 31, 2001, she accepted a plea bargain, and pled guilty to two counts of possessing explosives with intent to murder. The other charges were dropped.
[edit] Plea controversy
Immediately after entering the plea, however, Olson told reporters that she was innocent and that her plea bargain was a lie forced on her by the climate after the September 11, 2001 attacks. "It became clear to me that the incident would have a remarkable effect on the outcome of this trial ... the effect was probably going to be negative," she said. "That's really what governed this decision, not the truth or honesty, but what was probably in my best interests and the interests of my family."
Superior Court Judge Larry Fidler ordered another hearing on November 6, at which he asked her several times if she was indeed guilty of the charges. Olson replied "I want to make it clear, Your Honor, that I did not make that bomb. I did not possess that bomb. I did not plant that bomb. But under the concept of aiding and abetting, I plead guilty."
Then, on November 13, Olson filed a motion requesting to withdraw her guilty plea because "I realize I cannot plead guilty when I know I am not." She acknowledged that she did not misunderstand the judge when he read the charges against her. Rather, she said "Cowardice prevented me from doing what I knew I should: Throw caution aside and move forward to trial. ... I am not second-guessing my decision as much as I have found the courage to take what I know is the honest course. Please, Judge Fidler, grant my request to go to trial."
[edit] Sentencing in explosives charges
On December 3, 2001, Fidler offered to let Olson testify under oath about her role in the case. She refused. He then wondered "I took those pleas twice ... were you lying to me then or are you lying to me now?" -- and denied her request to withdraw her plea. Observers expected her to serve only three to five years, but on January 18, 2002, she was sentenced to two consecutive 10-years-to-life terms. She will be eligible for parole in five years.
[edit] Sentencing in Opsahl murder
On January 16, 2002, first-degree murder charges for the killing of Myrna Opsahl were filed against five SLA members including Olson. Olson pled not guilty to that charge at the time, but on November 7, changed her mind and pled guilty. She was sentenced on February 14, 2003 for the maximum term allowed under her plea bargain, which added six years to the 14-year sentence she is already serving.
[edit] Present location
Olson is serving her time at the Central California Women's Correctional Facility in Chowchilla.
[edit] Judge throws sentence out
The state Board of Prison Terms had scrapped her original sentence in October 2002 in exchange for a 14-year sentence, saying Olson's crimes had the potential for great violence and targeted multiple victims. In July 2004, a judge said there was "no analysis" of how the state Board of Prison Terms decided 14 years was appropriate and threw out the sentence.
