Posted on 07/13/2004 10:03:32 AM PDT by wallcrawlr
SACRAMENTO -- A Sacramento judge has thrown out the 14-year sentence former Symbionese Liberation Army member Sara Jane Olson received, saying a new hearing is needed to decide how much prison time the former St. Paul woman should serve.
Olson pleaded guilty in 2001 to taking part in two attempts to bomb Los Angeles Police Department cars in 1975, and originally received a five-year, four-month prison sentence.
The Board of Prison Terms scrapped that 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. The three-member board also cited Olson's later flight and 25 years as a fugitive, most of it in Minnesota.
In January 2003, Olson was also sentenced to six years for her role in a botched bank robbery in April 1975 that left a Sacramento woman dead.
(Excerpt) Read more at startribune.com ...
Life.
Death.
(I'm a hard-ass)
Unclear. This "Board of Prison Terms" in California can trump a judge?
Thrown out by a Sacremento judge...
Must be trying out for the 9th Circuit.
(I'm a hard-ass)
So am I, but (unfortunately) life is cheaper because the appeals process with a death sentence is so expensive.
At least there's a bright side to a life sentence: It doesn't employ as many lawyers!
Now, as for the prison guards... how about Mexican jails?
Clicking through to the article, it appears that the issue is that Soliah got more time than her partners in crime, so the judge needs to see the reasoning behind the 14-year sentence.
To my mind, 14 years for participating in an armed bank robbery where somebody was killed and attempting to murder police officers on two seperate occaisions merits at least 14 years in jail. But IANAFL, so I don't really know.
I think we should put a statute of limitations on appeals - and the clock is running while you are a fugitive. ;0)
And now this damn judge opens it all up again.
I'm afraid you are up against a huge body of Constitutional law there.
Mexican jails.
There was one other member of the SLA in the bank that day, she was as active a participant in that robbery as the others, but money, time and influence bought her freedom.
Dang it. That Constitution thingie ruins all my good ideas. Sigh... ;0)
Judges. Ain't it great to be able to create your own workload at everybody else's expense and misery whilst beating your chest in self aggrandizement the whole way?
Ropes and trees are looking more appealing these days.
Plus, if someone slips up and says, "You A-hole" instead of "Your Honor", you get to throw him in the pokie.
Did those Symbions ever get liberated?
Now THERE'S an outsourcing I can live with!
let me guess...she wants to marry her dog...oh wait, that is SF...
she wants to marry her girlfriend...no that is SF also.
What ever you think of this as an excuse it is a far cry from Sara Jane Olson, who volunteered to join. I would say Patty's ordeal is an offsetting factor. In fact she did serve a number of years in prison prior to her pardon. I believe three executives have pardoned her: Jerry Brown, Carter and Clinton.
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