Last Captured SLA Member is Released From Prison

Los Angeles Times ^ | May 10, 2009 | Ari B. Bloomekatz

[nickcarraway]

James William Kilgore, the last captured member of the Symbionese Liberation Army, was released on parole Sunday morning from a Northern California prison.

Kilgore, 61, was arrested in Cape Town, South Africa, in 2002 after almost three decades on the run.

He was one of five SLA members who pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the 1975 death of Myrna Opsahl, a 42-year-old mother of four who was killed by a shotgun blast after she arrived at a suburban Sacramento bank.

Kilgore apologized to Opsahl's family at his sentencing, saying he wished he could live that day over.

He served a two-year sentence for possession of an explosive device and making false statements on an application for a passport. In 2006, he began a six-year sentence for Opsahl's murder.

Kilgore, a former honors student from a wealthy Marin County family, joined the SLA after college. The group was a Vietnam War-era revolutionary outfit that gained notoriety after kidnapping heiress Patricia Hearst in 1974.

After fleeing, Kilgore spent more than two decades in Zimbabwe and South Africa. He had married an American woman overseas, raised two sons and worked as a university professor.

He was released at 12:20 a.m. from High Desert State Prison in Susanville, near the border with Nevada and about 180 miles northeast of Sacramento, said Oscar Hidalgo of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

[Huskrrrr]

No doubt he is a hero in the mind of Obama.

[theDentist]

Kilgore apologized to Opsahl's family at his sentencing, saying he wished he could live that day over.

Yeah, I hear serial killers wish they could live their murders over and over too.

[Lurker]

In 2006, he began a six-year sentence for Opsahl's murder.

6 years for a murder committed in conjunction with a Federal crime? That's it?

I certainly hope some members of the Opsahl family hook up with this creep for a little heart to heart chat.

[a fool in paradise]

These people are championed repeatedly on taxpayer subsidized Public Television.

[Brookhaven]

” he began a six-year sentence for Opsahl’s murder. “

Six years? How many years was her life shortened?

[DoughtyOne]

Thirty years on the run as a fugitive from a murder rap, and he serves two years.

A mother is shotgunned to death, this guy defeats justice for nearly thirty years, and serves only two years.

As for living that day over, if he really meant that, he would have served his prison term with no objection.

This outcome certainly doesn’t reflect my view of justice.

I am really convinced this nation is on it’s last legs.

[RobinOfKingston]

In 2006, he began a six-year sentence for Opsahl's murder.

Six years for murder????? Obviously with time off!!!!!

That is getting cheap enough that some might consider it a fair exchange in some cases.

[2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten]

After fleeing, Kilgore spent more than two decades in Zimbabwe and South Africa. He had married an American woman overseas, raised two sons and worked as a university professor.

Why does this not surprise me? Just like his buddies Ayres, Dohrn, etc.

[IrishCatholic]

Well, does this mean he is now available for a spot with the administration?
After all, like Ayers he spent years as a professor. Therefore he has made important contributions to society.

Same logic. Besides, how old was Obama when this guy was helping to murder people? We should just move on.
I say a spot in the Education Department, maybe undersecretary.

[DoughtyOne]

We had six years to pull the plug on the Propagandist Bolshevik System and didn’t bother. What a team!

[DoughtyOne]

Exactly! And his credentials spoke for themselves.

[ETL]

"The Symbionese Liberation Army (S.L.A.) was an American self-styled urban guerrilla warfare group active between 1973 and 1975 that considered itself a revolutionary vanguard army [ie communist revolutionaries/terrorists like the Weather Underground]. The group committed bank robberies, two murders and other acts of violence.

The S.L.A. became internationally notorious for kidnapping media heiress Patty Hearst, abducting the 19-year-old as she and her 26-year-old boyfriend, Steven Weed, sat relaxing in their Berkeley, California home."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbionese_Liberation_Army
__________________________________________________

"The granddaughter of publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst and great-granddaughter of self-made millionaire George Hearst, she gained notoriety in 1974 when, following her kidnapping by the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA), she ultimately joined her captors in furthering their cause. Apprehended after having taken part in a bank robbery with other SLA members, Hearst was imprisoned for almost two years before her sentence was commuted by President Jimmy Carter.[1] She was later granted a presidential pardon by President Bill Clinton in his last act as president.[2][1]"

Patty Hearst yelling commands at bank customers

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patty_Hearst
__________________________________________________

Soliah-Olson timeline: Radical, bank robber, mom, inmate
Last update: March 21, 2008

(snip)

May 1999: The TV show "America's Most Wanted" features Soliah. The FBI offers a $20,000 reward for her on the 25th anniversary of the Los Angeles shootout.

June 16, 1999: Olson is arrested in St. Paul, where she and her family live in an ivy-covered house in the Highland Park neighborhood.

July 1999: Olson signs papers in St. Paul that acknowledge she is the SLA fugitive. She waives extradition and is sent to California to face charges in connection with the 1975 crime. After 35 days in jail, she returns home after being freed on $1 million bail, raised by friends and supporters.

August 1999: Olson legally changes her name from Kathleen Ann Soliah.

September 1999: Trial date set for Jan. 10, 2000.

October 1999: A judge rules that the history of the Symbionese Liberation Army is fair game for prosecutors seeking to convict Olson, saying past crimes attributed to the SLA would be relevant.

December 1999: Olson publishes a 100-page cookbook called "Serving Time: America's Most Wanted Recipes" to raise funds for her defense. She asks that her trial be televised.

May 2000: Trial delayed until Jan. 8, 2001. Patty Hearst violates judge's gag order in case, implicating Olson in a Sacramento-area bank robbery and murder.

July 2000: Judge lifts gag order in case. Olson begins speaking out in public, saying her trial will become a credibility contest between her and Hearst, slamming her prosecution as politically motivated.

January 2001: After President Clinton pardons Hearst, Olson asks district attorney to drop charges against her.

February 2001: Authorities in Sacramento, Calif., say they've reopened their investigation into a fatal 1975 bank robbery that they allege involved Olson and SLA members.

October 2001: Olson pleads guilty in the pipe bomb case, is later sentenced to 14 years in prison.

February 2003: Olson is sentenced to six years in prison for her role in the fatal bank robbery. The other defendants -- SLA cohorts Emily Montague, William Harris and Michael Bortin -- were sentenced to prison terms ranging from six to eight years. In court, Jon Opsahl, the son of the woman killed during the robbery, called the four defendants "monsters" and "a group of pathetic, deranged revolutionaries who simply decided one day to make my mother [Myrna Opsahl] instantly and permanently expendable."

March 17 [2008]: Olson is [mistakenly released a year early...] from prison. [this timeline is from 2008, so doesn't include the latest -etl]

http://www.startribune.com/local/16892976.html?elr=KArks:DCiUoaW_eEO7UiacyKUUr
___________________________________________________

Sara Jane Olson and former fugitive Bernardine Dohrn chatted before Dohrn was to lead a panel discussion about conspiracy prosecutions of political activists in 2000.

Article:
http://www.startribune.com/local/stpaul/16944051.html

[NonValueAdded]

White House appointment in 5 ... 4 ... 3 ...

[Hacklehead]

Someone needs to fill a cabinet position.

[yazoo]

“Sara Jane Olson and former fugitive Bernardine Dohrn chatted before Dohrn was to lead a panel discussion about conspiracy prosecutions of political activists in 2000.”

Using that logic, McVeigh was just a political activist.

[Waco]

0’b will appoint him to some well-paying, taxpayer funded gov’t job.

[A_Former_Democrat]

That whole SLA saga was one of the weirdest series of events I’ve ever seen. (Yes, I know this is an understatement!) So surreal.

[WhistlingPastTheGraveyard]

a former honors student from a wealthy Marin County family

There's a shocker.

[WhistlingPastTheGraveyard]

Laugh it up while you can, ladies. Eternity awaits.