New York Times
November 7, 2001
70's Radical Reaffirms Guilty Plea
By JAMES STERNGOLD
LOS ANGELES -- In a high-pressure drama in which her future turned on her willingness to utter a single word, the onetime radical Sara Jane Olson jousted verbally with a judge today but finally, if reluctantly, said in court that she stood by her guilty plea to charges that she had plotted to bomb two police cruisers here 26 years ago.
The tense scene offered a bitter conclusion to a case that demonstrated how the long-ago actions of a generation steeped in radicalism and dissent can still excite deep passions, and defiance.
The State Superior Court judge in the case, Larry Paul Fidler, said he had called today's hearing because of his concern over Ms. Olson's actions last week, when she pleaded guilty to two felony counts as part of a surprise deal with the prosecutors, then in a hallway minutes later announced that she was innocent.
Ms. Olson insisted that she had been forced to accept a plea she had vowed to fight because the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11 meant that someone accused of engaging in antigovernment acts, even decades ago, could never receive a fair trial.
Many lawyers here said they had never heard of a plea deal being rescinded after it was entered, but Judge Fidler said that "the integrity of the criminal justice system is at stake," and he lectured Ms. Olson, "A guilty plea is not a way-station on the way to a press conference."
He added, "She cannot have it both ways," pleading guilty in court and then disavowing it outside.
He read Ms. Olson the statute under which she had been accused, and she then took a recess to discuss it with her lawyers. Ms. Olson, 54, re- entered the court and in response to the judge's questions stated that "I want to make it clear, Your Honor, that I did not make the bomb, I did not plant the bomb, I did not hold the bomb," but that she was guilty as a conspirator under a strict reading of the law.
One of her lawyers, Tony Serra, explained that she was acknowledging that "there was a factual basis" for her guilty plea to charges that she had aided and abetted the bombing, which failed. Then came the decisive moments.
"Do you wish your plea to stand?" the judge asked her.
Ms. Olson, who had smiled amiably when entering her plea in the same courtroom last week, looked tense and cross, and paused for about 15 seconds in the suddenly quiet courtroom.
"All right," she mumbled.
"Is that `yes'?" the judge asked.
"Yes," she concluded.
Ms. Olson, who had been known as Kathleen Soliah, was a fugitive for more than two decades after having been accused of being a member of the Symbionese Liberation Army and having participated in the failed bombing conspiracy. Prosecutors charged that the bombing plot was in retaliation for a shootout a year earlier in which six members of the radical group had been killed.
After she was arrested two years ago, Ms. Olson, now an upper-middle- class housewife and mother of three in St. Paul, vowed to fight the charges.
But last week she stunned many supporters by agreeing to a deal in which she pleaded guilty to two felony counts of attempted explosion of a destructive device with intent to murder. In return, prosecutors agreed to drop three other charges. Although the counts carry a possible life sentence, she is expected to receive five years and four months at her sentencing next month.
Even after she reaffirmed her plea, Ms. Olson's lawyers contested the stand the prosecutors have taken regarding her possible parole. Under the sentencing laws, the state parole board has the right to review her sentence and possibly lengthen it if they believe she remains a threat.
Shawn Chapman, one of Ms. Olson's lawyers, has said that she felt she had the prosecutors' word that they would not seek to extend her sentence. But in court last week the prosecutors said they reserved the right to try and influence the board.
Judge Fidler said the issue had to be resolved by Ms. Olson, by agreeing to the plea deal or not. She affirmed her decision.
"The plea is a valid plea," the judge said.
Ms. Olson made no statements outside the courtroom today.
Copyright © 2001, New York Times Company. All rights reserved.
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