Sara Jane Olson

1947

Sara Jane Olson (born Kathleen Ann Soliah on January 16, 1947) was a member of the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) in the 1970s.

1970

Sara Jane Olson (born Kathleen Ann Soliah on January 16, 1947) was a member of the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) in the 1970s.

Arrested in 1999, she pleaded guilty in 2001 to two counts of possessing explosives with intent to murder, and in 2003 to second-degree murder, both stemming from her SLA activities in the 1970s.

Olson's lawyers asserted that due to discrepancies between 1970s laws and current California laws, their client would most likely serve only five years, which could turn into two years for good behavior.

1975

She assisted them by procuring supplies for their San Francisco hideout and birth certificates of dead infants that could be used for identification purposes. ===Crocker National Bank robbery and Myrna Opsahl murder=== On April 21, 1975, SLA members robbed the Crocker National Bank in Carmichael, California, in the process killing 42-year-old Myrna Opsahl, a mother of four depositing money for her church.

The palm print was found on a garage door from a garage in which the SLA kept a getaway car. ===Los Angeles Police Department bombs=== On August 21, 1975, a bomb that came close to detonating was discovered where a Los Angeles Police Department patrol car had been parked in front of an International House of Pancakes restaurant earlier in the day.

1976

She grew up in Palmdale, California, the daughter of Norwegian-American parents, Elsie Soliah (née Engstrøm) and Palmdale High School English teacher and coach Martin Soliah. She went into hiding in 1976 after having been indicted in a bombing case.

One police officer present that day described the first bomb as one of "the most dangerous pipe bombs he had ever seen" and went on to say: At Soliah's 2002 sentencing hearing on the bombing, police officer John Hall, who had been in the car on top of the bomb described a little girl who stood feet away with her family: Soliah, along with five other SLA member, was indicted in 1976 for setting the police bombs, but vanished before the trial could commence.

1980

In 1980 she married the physician Gerald Frederick "Fred" Peterson, with whom she would have three daughters.

1999

Arrested in 1999, she pleaded guilty in 2001 to two counts of possessing explosives with intent to murder, and in 2003 to second-degree murder, both stemming from her SLA activities in the 1970s.

Her husband described the family as interested in progressive social causes. On March 3, 1999, and again on May 15, 1999, Soliah was profiled on the America's Most Wanted television program.

After a tip generated by the show, she was arrested on June 16, 1999.

2001

Arrested in 1999, she pleaded guilty in 2001 to two counts of possessing explosives with intent to murder, and in 2003 to second-degree murder, both stemming from her SLA activities in the 1970s.

She also published a cookbook titled Serving Time: America's Most Wanted Recipes. On October 31, 2001, she accepted a plea bargain and pleaded guilty to two counts of possessing explosives with intent to murder.

Rather, she said: ===Sentencing in explosives charges=== On December 3, 2001, Fidler offered to let Olson testify under oath about her role in the case.

2002

In 2002, new forensics technology allowed police to link these shells definitively to those found at Crocker Bank prior to charging the former members of SLA, including Soliah, with the crime.

One police officer present that day described the first bomb as one of "the most dangerous pipe bombs he had ever seen" and went on to say: At Soliah's 2002 sentencing hearing on the bombing, police officer John Hall, who had been in the car on top of the bomb described a little girl who stood feet away with her family: Soliah, along with five other SLA member, was indicted in 1976 for setting the police bombs, but vanished before the trial could commence.

Observers expected her to serve only three to five years, but on January 18, 2002, she was sentenced to two consecutive 10-years-to-life terms.

She was sentenced on February 14, 2003, for the maximum term allowed under her plea bargain, which was a six-year term concurrent to the 14-year sentence she was already serving. ==Incarceration and release== The state Board of Prison Terms had scrapped her original sentence in October 2002 in exchange for a longer 14-year sentence, saying Olson's crimes had the potential for great violence and targeted multiple victims.

2003

Arrested in 1999, she pleaded guilty in 2001 to two counts of possessing explosives with intent to murder, and in 2003 to second-degree murder, both stemming from her SLA activities in the 1970s.

She was sentenced on February 14, 2003, for the maximum term allowed under her plea bargain, which was a six-year term concurrent to the 14-year sentence she was already serving. ==Incarceration and release== The state Board of Prison Terms had scrapped her original sentence in October 2002 in exchange for a longer 14-year sentence, saying Olson's crimes had the potential for great violence and targeted multiple victims.

2004

In July 2004, a judge said there was "no analysis" of how the state Board of Prison Terms had decided 14 years was appropriate, and threw it out.

2007

Her sentence was instead converted to five years, four months. However, an appeals court panel restored her full 14-year sentence as of April 12, 2007.

2008

She received a sentence of 14 years in prison. She was mistakenly released for five days in March 2008, due to an error made in calculating her parole, before being rearrested.

She was an urban guerrilla." Kathleen Soliah/Sara Olson never publicly expressed remorse or regret for her actions. ===Release from prison and rearrest=== Olson was released on parole from the Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla on March 17, 2008.

For five days, she stayed at her mother's home in Palmdale, and spent some time hiking with her husband. On March 21, 2008, she was rearrested when it was decided that she had been mistakenly released a year early from prison due to a miscalculation by the parole board.

2009

She was released on parole on March 17, 2009. ==Symbionese Liberation Army== Kathleen Soliah was born in Fargo, North Dakota, while her family were living in Barnesville, Minnesota.

Olson was taken back into custody by the California Department of Corrections and placed in the California Institution for Women in Corona for an additional year. ===Release and parole=== After serving a total of seven years, about half of her sentence, Olson was released from prison on March 17, 2009, to serve her parole in Minnesota.




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