Monday, March 24, 2008
Sara Jane Olson Kathleen Soliah
Back To Prison
Kathleen Soliah, aka Sara Jane Olson, back in the slammer.
I published this column on domestic terrorist and former Symbionese Liberation Army member Kathleen Soliah - aka "Sara Jane Olson" - Saturday night with a Sunday timestamp. When I woke up Sunday morning the local news reported that Soliah was taken back into custody while waiting in California to board a flight for Minnesota. She will serve at least one more year in prison.
The California Corrections Department said that her release date had been miscalculated and that she was not eligible for parole until March 17, 2009. Her premature release was due to an error made in 2004, according to California Chief Deputy Secretary Scott Kernan.
Kathleen Soliah
The Minneapolis Red Star North Korean Tribune (MRSNKT), in a story titled "A return to prison, not St. Paul", by Tim Harlow (Google search the title if the link brings you to a "Register for free before we let you read the article page"), states that the outrage and press attention of her early release is what prompted her return to prison:
"They would not have done this if they had not gotten this pressure," [said her attorney David Nickerson]. "Absolutely. This is entirely a result of police pressure.
"This is like the Gestapo picking up somebody off the street," said Nickerson. "This action is illegal. They will be sued."
The same MRSNKT story reports:
"I was totally surprised," theater director and close friend Wendy Knox said angrily. "Who is not doing their job? To put her and her family through that is one more unconscionable act. I think this kind of treatment is cruel. It's unconscionable to put her through one more thing like this. It's unbelievable."
Awwwwwwwwwww - Mommy Terrorist didn't get to come home on Easter Sunday, she won't be able to wear her Easter Bonnet! That's a shame. "Oh.Dat's.So.Sad." Hold on a moment while I reach for a Kleenex to dry my tears.
The St. Paul Pioneer Press (aka Twincities.com), in a Saturday story titled "Reactions mixed to Olson release," by staff and wire reports (again, Google search the title if the link brings you to a "Register for free before we let you read the article page"), tells the story from the SLA victim's perspective of some of the family members:
Olson also pleaded guilty in 2003 to second-degree murder in the 1975 shooting death of Myrna Opsahl in an SLA bank robbery in Carmichael, a Sacramento suburb. Olson drove the getaway car.
[...]
"She's out of prison too soon by far," said Jon Opsahl, 49, son of the dead woman. "It's another in a series of slaps in the face of the victims by the justice system."
Nickerson said he plans to challenge [returning Olson to prison] on the grounds that Olson, having been placed on parole, can't be taken back into custody unless she violate the terms of her parole or commits a crime.
[...]
Los Angeles Police Protective League President Tim Sands praised the review of Olson's case that ended with her back behind bars.
"Justice is not served if convicted murderer Kathleen Ann Soliah can simply wander back to Minnesota after having only a token sentence for murder and attempted murder," Sands said. "Her prison sentence is not completed until her time on parole has been served."
Note the photo accompanying the MRSNKT story pictured above. The photo is credited to Robert Durrell of the L.A. Times. At the end of her bed is a small television - perhaps a 13" screen. Now, you can't tell by the above photo because it was cropped, but at the end of the bunk bed above her is another small television. Why, god forbid two inmates in the same cell be forced to only have one television and be forced to watch the same program. That would be inhumane. That would be "unconscionable." That would be "Gestapo-like tactics." Soliah, (who is 61-years old), should also wear longer shorts. Showing off your chubby and cottage-cheese dimpled thighs almost made me toss my breakfast, Kathleen.
Other news reports quote Nickerson saying that Soliah's family is "bewildered and astonished," and that they are considering a lawsuit over her being taken back into custody.
Well, goody for you, go for it. Good luck with that. While you go through the machinations of what will likely be a futile appeal or lawsuit, let me remind the Soliah family of a line from a great song, one whose lyrics they are likely to fail to comprehend and grasp:
"I fought the law, and the law won. I fought the law and the law won."
©2008
Labels: Kathleen Soliah, Sara Jane Olson, SLA
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