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It's Now 20 Years In Slammeramma For Sara Jane Olson

Posted on 01/18/2002 10:56:44 AM PST by MindBender26

LOS ANGELES (AP) – Former Symbionese Liberation Army fugitive Sara Jane Olson was sentenced today to 20 years to life in prison for conspiring to blow up police cars in 1975.

Following tearful statements from family and friends, Olson said she was "truly sorry" for causing anyone any pain. But she denied trying to murder officers by planting bombs under the two Los Angeles police cars to avenge the deaths of six SLA members during a shootout with authorities in 1974. The bombs didn't explode.

Superior Court Judge Larry Fidler sentenced Olson to two consecutive terms of 10 years to life.


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To: MindBender26
20 Years! Don't you think she should be be given some sort of reprieve for being a wife, mother and model citizen for the past 25 years? I mean, really, just think about all the years she spent grieving over her friends who were killed or are still in prison. And she stood up for what she believed in at the time, after all this is America.
21 posted on 01/18/2002 11:31:29 AM PST by Rebelbase
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To: MindBender26
Sorry I left off the /sarcasm!
22 posted on 01/18/2002 11:31:52 AM PST by Rebelbase
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To: dennisw
A face only a cell-mate could love. Have fun in the "slammer" Ms. sara. You know why they call it the slammer dont you? Maybe you can be pardoned some day if we ever get another America-hating President like Clinton in the White House again. But with W at 80%, better get comfortable.
23 posted on 01/18/2002 11:33:02 AM PST by noloveforlibs
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To: cajungirl
She is sorry she caused "pain",,this woman tried to cause murder, participated in a bank robbery where murder was committed and she thinks all she caused was PAIN

She's sorry she caused pain? That would only be because she truly did cause pain.

Git ready for the book written from prison and the movie of the week. And, oh yeah, the hollywood elites coming out for her defense and some idiot, after spotting my VRWC bumpersticker and writing on the dust of my car, "Free Mumia the Mama."

24 posted on 01/18/2002 11:35:29 AM PST by Slyfox
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To: MindBender26; maxwell
"You wanna be mah fren?"

Segregated jails do seem to promote this type of behavior. California is a liberal state. I think they should experiment with co-ed incarceration. Try Sara Jane and Cornfed as roomies. (No dogs though, that's tooooo liberal!)

25 posted on 01/18/2002 11:36:30 AM PST by Shermy
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To: isom35
I was kind of distracted during the last episode, but isn't the mother of the Ryan O'Reilly character a 60s radical whose past finally caught up to her - but instead of being sentenced to 20 years, she's teaching at art class at Oz? (Community service doncha know. . .)
26 posted on 01/18/2002 11:37:54 AM PST by Plummz
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To: MindBender26
I love the letter Kathleen put up on her website just last week:

To Bail Donors

Dear Bail Donors

Thank you so much for allowing me to have the past two and one-half years with Fred and the girls before going to prison. I realize that being deprived of your donated funds and property has been extremely difficult for many of you and may have altered your plans in some cases. I never intended, in the beginning, to pursue the legal course I ended up following. Like many journeys, it slipped from my control at certain junctures and I made mistakes.

Although some of you may think I intended to plead guilty from the start and merely dallied for two and one-half years, this is not true. I intended to go to trial. As I stated in my plea when the judge made me return to court to reiterate my first and totally legal plea, I did not plan to make a bomb, I did not make a bomb and I did not place a bomb under police cars. I pled guilty because my husband and daughters need to get on with their lives. We're all exhausted and my family is out of money. I made the plea on the advice of an attorney, a man trained in the law and extremely experienced. I did not agree with him but I have never been in a situation like this before. I relied on his expertise. I would no more face a monstrously huge criminal trial (one of the largest, most complicated in American legal history against a lone citizen) without trained legal advice than I would have a gardener remove an inflamed strawberry gall bladder. Maybe someone else would but not this "girl."

A conspiracy charge is difficult to defend. It doesn't require "beyond a reasonable doubt" evidence and thrives in a courtroom culture of circumstantial innuendo. It carried a sentence, if conviction occurred, of a mandatory life sentence. In my case, the withdrawal motion resulted in a display of Napoleonic Law when the defendant became guilty until proven innocent. My lawyer, Shawn Chapman, and I were completely unprepared for this sudden change of circumstances and we both certainly spent that night sleepless and depressed.

Regardless, the plea has been made, albeit under duress, the motion to withdraw it duly denied, and I am going where over two million Americans find themselves today, into the world's largest prison system.

I should be sentenced to five and one-quarter years. I should serve a little over half of that. I intend to maintain good behavior and I hope I will be allowed that privilege. Any other course would be illegal and, I am assured, has never occurred in California sentencing history. Of course, there is always a first time, as I have been reminded but I sincerely hope that will not happen.

When I am sentenced on January 18, the bail will be vacated. It will be returned to the Cooper Law Firm trust and then be returned to the donors. Whether this will be done in a few days or a week, I don't know. Perhaps Steve Cooper can provide this information.

Thank you for your kindness in the first place when you gave me help. I am grateful and humbled by your generosity. I am sorry your donations were tied up in my legal process for so long.

I hope this experience doesn't make anyone hesitate when someone, anyone, needs help again. Given the largess and great humanity for which Minnesotans are justifiably known I don't believe that will ever be the case.

I wish to thank the Cooper Law Firm and it's staff for all of their hard work and commitment to posting bail for me.

Peace in the New Year,

Sara Jane Olson


27 posted on 01/18/2002 11:40:18 AM PST by TroutStalker
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To: Rebelbase
Wow you were scareing me there for a second !... whewww
28 posted on 01/18/2002 11:40:26 AM PST by arly
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To: MindBender26
Call Johnnie Cochran!
29 posted on 01/18/2002 11:44:41 AM PST by Mr Ducklips
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To: Shermy

30 posted on 01/18/2002 11:46:22 AM PST by TroutStalker
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To: MindBender26
What's really sad to me is,a truly great American, Barbara Olson, dies at the hands of terrorists at the Pentagon, and this dumb bitch ,Olson, who was a terrorist gets to live!!!
31 posted on 01/18/2002 11:47:03 AM PST by fish hawk
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To: TroutStalker
Well, at least by charging her with the murders just before sentencing they didn't give her the opportunity to skip bail and therefore the bail suckers (oops, I meant donors)will get their money back.

She still doesn't get it as the letter shows. All the whining about conspiracy! One overt act in furtherance and you're toast. That's the law. Has been for years. If she had any brains she'd have steered clear of the SLA lowlifes. I have no sympathy for any of them, except the exceptionally vapid and impressionable Ms. Hearst who was brainwashed into participating. In her case I blame only her parents for not giving her the strength of character to adequately resist.

32 posted on 01/18/2002 11:52:00 AM PST by CatoRenasci
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To: MindBender26
They should fry her right alongside Mumia!
33 posted on 01/18/2002 11:53:19 AM PST by dfwgator
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To: dennisw
She looks like Brooks Hadlin from "Shawshank Redemption".
34 posted on 01/18/2002 11:58:07 AM PST by GuillermoX
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To: Kazuki
Not True! Their mother has not always been a fake, she has been their real mother.

True.....which makes it all the sadder

Now finding out she is a killer, that's a problem.

It sure is. Not only do they have to live with the devastating truth but also the stigma attached to the family. Too bad that her hidden past has to bite them too.

35 posted on 01/18/2002 11:58:45 AM PST by Southflanknorthpawsis
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To: MindBender26; goldstategop
She won't face death penalty chrges, there was no capital punishment when she committed the crimes.

Regarding her prison sentence. The plea agreement allows her to serve her time in Minnesota. The women's prison in Minnesota is in Shakopee (about 5 miles from me). They don't even have a fence, you must stay on the grounds.

The sentence will also be 'recalculated' in accordance with sentencing changes that have occurred in the years since her crime. She -may- serve only 2.5 years, she may serve more. They keep pretty quiet about that.

She got a sweet deal.

36 posted on 01/18/2002 12:03:13 PM PST by biggerten
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To: Southflanknorthpawsis
She'll be missed in St. Paul. Maybe Wellstone will pay her a visit.
37 posted on 01/18/2002 12:08:28 PM PST by Eric in the Ozarks
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To: Eric in the Ozarks
She'll be missed in St. Paul. Maybe Wellstone will pay her a visit.

LOL.........hopefully he will have a lot of time on his hands after the 2002 election.

38 posted on 01/18/2002 12:11:38 PM PST by Southflanknorthpawsis
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To: MindBender26

39 posted on 01/18/2002 12:15:13 PM PST by Internet Explorer
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To: CatoRenasci
Patti Hearst needed some jail time too.... Daddy Warbucks is the reason she is frolicking around as a hostess on various occasions. No other reason. She is a puke too; just like Condit, Gray, all the recent Lindhs and a whole host of arrogant " we walk on water" libs from Calif.
40 posted on 01/18/2002 12:16:29 PM PST by chemainus
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