Sara Jane Olson

Sara Jane Olson (born Kathleen Ann Soliah on January 16, 1947) was a member of the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) in the 1970s. She grew up in Palmdale, California, the daughter of Norwegian-American parents,^[1][2] Elsie Soliah (née Engstrom)^[1] and Palmdale High School English teacher^[1] and coach Martin Soliah.^[1][3] She went into hiding in 1976 after having been indicted in a bombing case. She has lived much of her life under the alias Sara Jane Olson, which is now her legal name. Arrested in 1999, she pleaded guilty in 2001 to two counts of possessing explosives with intent to murder, and in 2003 to second-degree murder, both stemming from her SLA activities in the 1970s. She received a sentence of 14 years in prison.

She was mistakenly released for five days in March 2008 due to an error made in calculating her parole before being rearrested.^[4] She was finally released on parole on March 17, 2009.^[5]

Symbionese Liberation Army

Kathleen Soliah was born in Fargo, North Dakota while her family were living in Barnesville, Minnesota.^[1] When she was eight, her conservative Lutheran^[1] family relocated to Southern California. After graduating from the University of California, Santa Barbara, Soliah moved to Berkeley, California with her boyfriend, James 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, but did not join.^[6]

When Atwood and other core members of the SLA were killed in 1974 during a standoff with police near Watts, California following their murder of the Oakland school superintendent,^[7] the Soliahs organized memorial rallies, including a rally in Berkeley's Willard Park (called Ho Chi Minh park by activists) where Soliah spoke in support of her friend Atwood, while being covertly filmed by the FBI.^[8][9] At that rally, Soliah said that her fellow SLA members had been:

viciously attacked and murdered by 500 pigs in L.A. while the whole nation watched. Well, I believe that Gelina [Atwood] and her comrades fought until the last minutes, and though I would like to have her with me here right now, I know that she lived happy and she died happy. And in that sense, I'm so very proud of her. SLA soldiers - I know it is not necessary to say; but keep on fighting. I'm with you and we are with you!^[9]

She asserted that Atwood "was a truly revolutionary woman ... among the first white women to fight so righteously for their beliefs and to die for what they believed in."^[10]

Now a fugitive, founding SLA member Emily Harris disguised herself and visited Soliah, who was on the job at a bookstore. Soliah later recalled, "I was glad she was alive. I expected them to be killed at any time." She felt sorry for the group and agreed to help the remaining group hide from the police and FBI.^[10] She assisted them by procuring supplies for their San Francisco hideout and birth certificates of dead infants that could be used for identification purposes.^[10]

Crocker National Bank robbery and Myrna Opsahl murder

On April 21, 1975, SLA members robbed the Crocker National Bank in Carmichael, California, in the process killing 42-year-old Myrna Opsahl, a mother of four depositing money for her church.^[11][12] Patty Hearst who was switch getaway driver during the crime, provided the original information that led the police to implicate the SLA in the robbery and murder;^[11] she also stated that Soliah was one of the actual robbers.^[11] According to Hearst, Soliah also kicked a pregnant teller in the abdomen, leading to a miscarriage.^[13]

Several rounds of 9 mm ammunition spilled on the floor and found in Opsahl's body^[14] during the robbery bore manufacturing marks that matched that of ammunition loaded in a 9 mm Browning Hi-Power semi-automatic pistol found by police in Soliah’s bedroom dresser drawer at the SLA safehouse on Precita Avenue in San Francisco.^[12] In 2002, new forensics technology allowed police to link these shells definitively to those found at Crocker Bank prior to charging the former members of SLA, including Soliah, with the crime.^[11] Prosecutor Michael Latin said that Soliah was tied to the crime through fingerprints, a palm print, and handwriting evidence.^[12] The palm print was found on a garage door from a garage in which the SLA kept a getaway car.^[15]

Los Angeles Police Department bombs

On August 21, 1975, a bomb that came within 1/16 of an inch of detonating was discovered where a Los Angeles Police Department patrol car had been parked in front of an International House of Pancakes restaurant earlier in the day.^[7] After the bomb was discovered, all Los Angeles police were ordered to search under their cars, and another bomb was found in front of a police department about a mile away.^[7] Soliah was accused of planting the bombs in an attempt to avenge the SLA members who had died a year earlier in the standoff with LA police.^[7]

The pipe bombs were rigged to detonate as the patrol cars drove away. One police officer present that day described the first bomb as one of "the most dangerous pipe bombs he had ever seen" and went on to say:

This device was designed to go off when that car was moved, and the only way you move a car is to get in and drive it. This bomb wasn't directed against property. It wasn't directed against the car. You could have thrown a device under the car and lit a fuse and then ran. It was directed at whoever got in the car and moved it, however it would have also taken out anybody in the vicinity.^[7]

At Soliah's 2002 sentencing hearing on the bombing, police officer John Hall,^[15] who had been in the car on top of the bomb described a little girl who stood feet away with her family:

Your honor, it horrifies me to think that the lives of dozens of innocent people, like that child in the window [would have ended] in an instant had the defendant and her co conspirators successfully carried out their terrorist acts.^[14]

Soliah was indicted in 1976 for setting the police bombs along with five other SLA members, but vanished before the trial could commence.^[7] When Soliah was eventually brought to trial years later, the evidence against her was not considered by prosecutors to be a "slam dunk," although enough to convince a jury of her guilt.^[7] Two witnesses who had originally testified in her grand jury indictment had died by the time she was found and brought to trial: a plumber who had sold materials used in the bomb had picked Soliah out of a lineup as one of the buyers, and a bomb expert had stated the explosive could have been built in Soliah's apartment. Police could not identify any fingerprints on the devices other than those of the officers who had disarmed them;^[7] however, Soliah's fingerprint, handwriting and signature were identified on a letter sent to order a fuse that could only be used for bomb-making purposes, and components matching those used in the police car bombs were found in a locked closet at the Precida Avenue hideout that Soliah lived in with the other members of SLA.^[12]

Underground life, capture, and prosecution

The house where Soliah lived under an assumed name in St. Paul, Minnesota

In February 1976, a grand jury indicted Soliah in the bombing case. Soliah went underground and became a fugitive for 23 years. She had built a life with her husband Gerald Frederick "Fred" Peterson (who was a doctor)^[14] and three daughters from Zimbabwe to Saint Paul, Minnesota, having assumed the alias Sara Jane Olson; the surname chosen being one of the most common names in Minnesota due to the large number of people of Scandinavian-Americans descent.^[16] She was active in Saint Paul on community issues.^[14] Her husband described the family as interested in progressive social causes.^[14]

On March 3, 1999, and again on May 15, 1999, Soliah was profiled on the America's Most Wanted television program. After a tip generated by the show, she was arrested on June 16, 1999. Soliah was then charged with conspiracy to commit murder, possession of explosives, explosion, and attempt to ignite an explosive with intent to murder.^[17]

Shortly after her arrest, Soliah legally changed her name to her alias, Sara Jane Olson. She also published a cookbook entitled Serving Time: America's Most Wanted Recipes.^[18] On October 31, 2001, she accepted a plea bargain and pled guilty to two counts of possessing explosives with intent to murder.^[19] As part of a plea bargain, the other charges were dropped.

Plea controversy

Immediately after entering the plea, however, Olson told reporters that she was innocent and that she had decided to take a plea bargain due to the climate after the September 11 attacks, in which she felt an accused bomber could not receive a fair trial from a jury.^[15] "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."^[20]

Angered by Olson's announcement that she had lied in court, Superior Court Judge Larry Fidler^[21] 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."

On November 13, Olson filed a motion requesting to withdraw her guilty plea and acknowledged that she did not misunderstand the judge when he read the charges against her. Rather, she said:

I realize I cannot plead guilty when I know I am not. ... 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.^[20]

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.^[14] Fidler warned that according to California law, the Board of Prison Terms could later change the sentence to a lesser term;^[14] at the time, Olson's lawyers asserted that due to discrepancies between 1970s laws and current California laws, their client would most likely serve only five years, which could turn into two years for good behavior.^[6] The Board of Prison Terms did later change the sentence.

At her sentencing hearing, Olson's teenage daughter Leila, her pastor, and her husband spoke in her defense, while Olson's mother claimed on the stand that Olson had never been a part of the SLA and spoke against prosecutors and police she asserted had harassed the family.^[14]

Sentencing in Opsahl murder

On January 16, 2002, first-degree murder charges for the killing of Myrna Opsahl were filed against Olson and five other SLA members: Emily Harris, Bill Harris, Michael Bortin (Olson's brother-in law who had married her sister Josephine), and James Kilgore, who remained a fugitive.^[11] Judge Fidler arraigned Olson on the murder charges immediately following her sentencing hearing on January 18.^[6] Olson pled not guilty to that charge at the time,^[6] but on November 7, she changed her mind and pled guilty. She was sentenced on February 14, 2003 for the maximum term allowed under her plea bargain, which was a six-year term^[19] concurrent to the 14-year sentence she was already serving.

Incarceration and Release

The state Board of Prison Terms had scrapped her original sentence in October 2002 in exchange for a longer 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 had decided 14 years was appropriate, and threw it out. Her sentence was instead converted to five years, four months.^[22] However, an appeals court panel restored her full 14-year sentence as of April 12, 2007. It ruled that a lower court did not follow procedure when they allowed Olson to appeal.^[23][24]

Olson served her time at the Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla. Her custody status was "Close A,"^[25] which is reserved for inmates requiring the most supervision. This status limited her privileges and required that she be counted seven times a day. It also prevented her from being able to seek a relocation to a facility closer to her home. David Nickerson, Olson's attorney, stated that this status reflected the Department of Corrections' view that she was a potential flight risk.^[26]

Olson's husband and three daughters continued to support her during her imprisonment and took turns visiting her frequently in Chowchilla.^[23] In an interview with Marie Claire (ironically published by Hearst Corporation), Olson's 23-year-old daughter Emily Peterson dismissed her mother's radical past with the SLA, saying "She lived in Berkeley. It was kind of normal.^[27] I always tell people she wasn't a terrorist. She was an urban guerrilla."^[28] Olson herself has never expressed remorse or regret for her actions.^[29]

Release from Prison and Rearrest

Olson was released on parole from the Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla on March 17, 2008,.^[30] For five days, she stayed at her mother's home in Palmdale, and spent some time hiking with her husband.^[31]

On March 21, 2008, she was rearrested when it was decided that she had been mistakenly released a year early from prison due to a miscalculation by the parole board.^[32] Her attorney claimed that the action was a political move.^[31] Olson was taken back into custody by the California Department of Corrections and placed in the California Institution for Women in Corona for an additional year.^[33]

Release and parole

After serving a total of seven years, about half of her sentence, Olson was released from prison on March 17, 2009, to serve her parole in Minnesota. Police unions in both Minnesota and California protested the arrangement, stating that they believe her parole should be served in California, where her crimes were committed.^[34] In a letter to California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Governor Tim Pawlenty also protested Olson being allowed to return to Minnesota.^[35]

Daughter competes in American Idol

Olson's 28-year-old daughter, Sophia Shorai, was a contestant in the 2011 season of the talent show American Idol.^[36]

References

Further reading

• Hendry, Sharon Darby, Soliah: The Sara Jane Olson Story, Cable Publishing, 2002 ISBN 1-893088-35-9

External links

• Chronology of the SLA from CourtTV News (only goes up to 2002)
• Profile of Sara Jane Olson
• Full Court TV coverage of the Kathleen Soliah bombing case
• Myrna Opsahl, woman murdered by SLA at Crocker Bank at the Wayback Machine (archived August 17, 2007)

Symbionese Liberation Army Founding members Donald DeFreeze Angela Atwood Patricia Soltysik Camilla Hall Nancy Ling Perry Joe Remiro Bill Harris Emily Harris Willie Wolfe Russ Little Thero Wheeler Mary Alice Siem Gary Atwood Later members Wendy Yoshimura Kathleen Soliah Patty Hearst James Kilgore Michael Bortin Victims Marcus Foster Myrna Opsahl