Mar
SLA Member Sara Jane Olson Released From Jail
The union representing Los Angeles Police Department officers this week criticized the release from prison of Sara Jane Olson, who pleaded guilty to attempting to blow up LAPD police cars, after serving about half her sentence.
Olson, once known as Kathleen Ann Soliah, was initially sentenced to 20 years to life after pleading guilty in October 2001 to two counts of attempted explosion of a destructive device with intent to commit murder. A series of decisions by the state Board of Prison terms and courts reduced the sentence to 12 years, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The former member of the radical Symbionese Liberation Army was also serving a six-year sentence for her role in the April 21, 1975, shooting death of a customer during a bank robbery in Carmichael.
Olson was released on parole from the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla Monday after serving about six years, earning credit against her sentence for working in prison, The Times reported.
“Kathleen Ann Soliah is a convicted murderer, who murdered an innocent bank customer and attempted to murder LAPD officers by bombing two police cars,” Los Angeles Police Protective League President Tim Sands said. “She needs to serve her full time in prison for these crimes and does not deserve time off for working in prison.
“After participating in one killing and attempting two more, she managed to elude authorities and live a guilt-free, middle class life for decades. Criminals who attempt to murder police officers should not be able to escape justice simply because they have good lawyers.”
Olson’s attorney, Shawn Chapman Holley, told The Times,” We (are) thrilled that she’s out and can (return) to her family. For someone who was not a danger or threat to society, it was six years too long.”
According to the indictment, on Aug. 21, 1975, a large, powerful bomb packed with nails and gunpowder was planted beneath an LAPD squad car parked at an International House of Pancakes restaurant on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. A similar device was placed beneath a patrol car the same day at the LAPD’s Hollenbeck Division police station. Neither bomb exploded.
Prosecutors believe the bombs were intended to avenge the 1974 deaths of a half-dozen Symbionese Liberation Army members, who were killed in a fire and shootout with police in Watts. Olson’s friend, Angela Atwood, was in the SLA and died in the shootout. Olson later helped surviving SLA members, and was implicated in the attempted bombings and a bank robbery.
She was on the lam until her June 1999 arrest in St. Paul, Minn, where she had been living under the alias Kathleen Soliah with her husband, an emergency room doctor, and three children. The arrest was sparked by a report on the Fox Broadcasting series “America’s Most Wanted.”
During her years on the run, she led a law-abiding life, participating in school, church and other community affairs.
Source : www.nbc11.com
Tags: anderson independent, patty hearst, sara jane olson, symbionese, symbionese liberation army
