Last SLA Fugitive Sentenced To 6 Years For Shotgun Murder [Kathleen Soliah group]

AP ^ | 5/10/04

[11th Earl of Mar]

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Today: May 10, 2004 at 15:56:38 PDT

Last SLA Member Sentenced to 6 Years

By JIM WASSERMAN
ASSOCIATED PRESS

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - The last fugitive member of the Symbionese Liberation Army to be brought to justice was sentenced Monday to six years in prison for the shotgun slaying of a bank customer during a 1975 holdup.

James Kilgore, 56, who evaded authorities for more than two decades before his November 2002 arrest in South Africa, was the last of five SLA members sentenced for murdering Myrna Opsahl, 42. The housewife and mother of four was killed as she desposited a church collection at Crocker National Bank.

"I can say if there is one day in my life I could live again, it would be that moment," Kilgore said as he apologized to the Opsahl family at Sacramento Superior Court.

"I accept full responsibility for my actions on that day," said Kilgore, a one-time economics major who became an SLA bomb maker and eventually a professor at the University of Cape Town.

Kilgore's sentencing brought an end to the violent saga of the SLA. The band of 1970s California revolutionaries achieved notoriety amid the anti-Vietnam war movement for murdering Oakland school superintendent Marcus Foster, kidnapping newspaper heiress Patty Hearst, setting off bombs and robbing a string of California banks.

Hearst received 2001 pardon on earlier bank robbery charges from President Clinton.

Monday's sentencing ended a long crusade by Opsahl's surviving family members to obtain prosecutions in the 29-year-old murder.

Sacramento County prosecutors declined for years to press charges, fearing evidence wouldn't hold up in court. But county sheriff's deputies in January 2002 arrested four former SLA members and prosecutors reached guilty pleas in November 2002.

Serving six- to eight-year terms in California prisons are Emily Montague, 57, of Altadena; her former husband, William Harris, 58, of Oakland; Michael Bortin, 55, of Portland, Ore.; and Sara Jane Olson, 57, of St. Paul, Minn.

Kilgore pleaded guilty to murder in May 2003. As part of a plea bargain, Kilgore will pay an undetermined amount of restitution to the Opsahls. He is also barred from profiting from selling his story, and any money he makes from books, magazines, television or films will go to a nursing scholarship in Opsahl's name.

A married father of two, Kilgore spent more than two decades in Zimbabwe and South Africa after disappearing from San Francisco on Sept. 18, 1975, the day FBI agents arrested Hearst and four other SLA members.

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[11th Earl of Mar]

FYI.

Weren't you following this story?

[steplock]

only 6 years for blasting someone with a shotgun?

Now that makes me think ....... if we blast a terrorist or other enemy of our Constitution away with a shotgun, can we expect such leniency?

Answer ... only if he is a 'white Christian male conservative'.

"Enemy of Constitution" = any person or official who claims to be American but openly and defiently breaks the provisions of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

[Mad Dawg]

Obviously I'm late to the party here. Could somebody explain how 6 years in prison is a reasonable sentence for murder?

[Neanderthal]

"Could somebody explain how 6 years in prison is a reasonable sentence for murder?"

Probably 3 years with time off for good behavior.

[MistrX]

Justice delayed is justice denied.

[irv]

I accept full responsibility for my actions on that day

If that were true, he would have turned himself in long ago instead of waiting to be found.

[Mad Dawg]

Yeah -- of course, murder isn't a major crime, like, say, demonstrating in front of an abortuary or carrying a revolver. For those you can do serious time.

[Mears]

6 years is a joke. If this was an American soldier humiliating an Iraqi he'd probably get more time,and certainly a lot more attention.

[Cicero]

Murder during the commission of a bank robbery used to be an automatic death penalty. The jury would have been out about 10 minutes before bringing it.

[Lawgvr1955]

I am not taking the position that 6 years is even close when discussing a murder sentence. However, the apparent answer to this lenient sentence is in the following paragraph. I guess the prosecutors thought it was this light sentence or no conviction at all.

Sacramento County prosecutors declined for years to press charges, fearing evidence wouldn't hold up in court. But county sheriff's deputies in January 2002 arrested four former SLA members and prosecutors reached guilty pleas in November 2002.

[Mears]

Probably couldn't take in in Zimbabwe anymore!

[Mears]

Probably couldn't take it in Zimbabwe anymore!

[Tacis]

Oh, haven't these noble folks suffered enough as it is? They have bravely fought to destroy America and all their hideous crimes are are simply committed to that end! Where are the New York Times, the ultra-left wing media, the scumbag democrats, the Eurinals, the UN ers and all those others folks who share their views?

Couldn't we just require this guy to attend strawberry festivals and quilting bees as punishment? In prison, he is liable to be exposed to, well, unsavory types. Six years is a long time to be separated from his butterfly collection, his darling Yorkies, and the adorable colection of crystal pyramids. This is too much!! Of course, his appeal to the federal court in San Francisco will be the answer.

[Ben Chad]

Strip him, hood him, leash him.

[Sam the Sham]

Wait a minute. Are the Harris's in prison ? I thought they were released ages ago. In fact, they did less time than Patty Hearst.

[AEMILIUS PAULUS]

Your Question: "only 6 years for blasting someone with a shotgun?"

Response: Funny I had the same question. I guess we received the answer.

[Jack Black]

I believe Carter or Ford pardoned Hearst. Clinton may have restored additional rights.

[ccmay]

"I accept full responsibility for my actions on that day,"

Lying bastard, if he truly felt that way he would have turned himself in.

I wish him a prompt and painful death in prison.

-ccm

[cherry]

its not reasonable, but the prosecution was going on limited evidence, and just the fact that they got these creeps to do anytime is a victory....

especially for getting the "Sara Jane" off the streets ( K.Soliah) if only for a short time.....she is a raving leftist to this day...

but overall, I think justice is fleeting in today's world....

if you're a leftist, demonrat,or minority or wealthy person, you don't get prosecuted fully in this day and age.......