$1-Million Bail Set for Soliah in SLA Case

In a case that even the prosecutor agreed is far from a “slam-dunk,” a Los Angeles Superior Court judge Wednesday set bail at $1 million for a former member of the Symbionese Liberation Army who became a pillar of her Midwestern community during the two decades she was a fugitive in a murder-conspiracy case.

Wearing a blue jail jumpsuit, Kathleen Ann Soliah, who has lived the suburban dream under the name Sara Jane Olson, smiled at her three teenage daughters as she entered the courtroom.

She had not seen them since her arrest last month.

Her friends, family and other supporters filled two rows of the courtroom. Most had traveled from St. Paul, Minn., where Olson has raised her family and been active in local theater and politics.

“We are pleading not guilty,” said defense attorney Susan B. Jordan. “We are basically throwing down the gauntlet and saying to the government, ‘You have no evidence.’ ”

Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael Latin opposed bail for Soliah, 52, who is charged in a 1976 Los Angeles grand jury indictment with conspiring with other SLA members to kill LAPD officers to avenge the deaths of six SLA members in a fiery 1974 shootout. As an alternative, he recommended setting bail at $10 million.

“My position would have been different had she turned herself in,” he said.

The defense attack led the prosecutor to make several startling disclosures: A number of witnesses who testified before the grand jury in 1976 have died. The other evidence--bomb-making equipment found in a closet in an apartment Soliah shared with other SLA members, is circumstantial.

“I will not represent to the court that this is a slam-dunk case,” Latin said. “It is not a strong case, but it is not a weak case.” He said the quality of the evidence should be resolved by a jury.

The prosecutor did disclose the identity of one possible witness: heiress Patricia Hearst, who he said long ago gave statements to Los Angeles police and the FBI linking Soliah to the attempted bombings of two LAPD squad cars in August 1975.

Hearst, who was kidnapped by the SLA and then became a member, has also placed Soliah at a Sacramento-area bank robbery in which a customer was killed.

Hearst, now a mother of two living in Connecticut, told the TV show “Rivera Live” on Wednesday, “I resent this all being dredged up. It is ancient history at this point.”

As for Soliah, Hearst said: “I’m sorry for her children . . . she’s got a lot of explaining to do.”

Soliah’s capture last month has led Sacramento officials to reopen their probe of her role in the April 1975 holdup. But Soliah’s defense pointed out that a Sacramento grand jury has twice refused to issue indictments, most recently in 1990.

In court, the lawyers argued that Hearst would have credibility problems as a witness. She has never testified except at her own bank robbery trial, and the jury did not believe her and found her guilty. She later cooperated with authorities in an effort to win leniency and ultimately was granted a presidential pardon. She has earned money by writing a book about the case, the defense said.

Soliah was arrested three blocks from her home in St. Paul. Married to a doctor, she is a gourmet cook and part of a close group of 30 or so friends who have socialized for years. She is devoted to daughters Emily, Sophia, and Leila and is active in local politics and theater, a half-dozen witnesses testified.

About 59 people, including relatives, friends and members of her church, have raised $250,000 for her bail.

It was Judge Larry Paul Fidler’s job to reconcile the dual faces of Soliah, terrorist suspect, and Olson, Minnesota soccer mom.

“There is something about the use of a bomb that I find particularly abhorrent,” Fidler said. “It is the terrorist’s weapon of choice.”

But Fidler sought the middle ground, pointing to the serious nature of the crime, the defendant’s current role in the community and weaknesses in the prosecution’s case. The evidence, he said, is circumstantial, but “clearly adequate” to put before a jury.

Soliah can return to St. Paul after she posts $1 million bail and agrees to wear a home monitoring device, Fidler ruled.

A 1976 grand jury indictment unsealed Wednesday accuses Soliah of conspiring to kill Los Angeles police officers by planting pipe bombs filled with nails under two squad cars. Both devices malfunctioned and neither exploded. If convicted, she could receive life imprisonment.

The hearing Wednesday also revealed that Soliah had attempted to reach a plea bargain and surrender in 1986. Prosecutors offered then to release her on her own recognizance, but the deal fell through when they declined to guarantee that she would not receive a jail sentence, Latin said.

Soliah and her lawyers were told to return to court Tuesday with a bail plan. She is jailed at Twin Towers.

Defense attorneys Jordan and Stuart Hanlon called the $1 million figure “do-able.”

But the defendant’s daughters erupted in tears as she was led away. “Bye, Mommy,” 16-year-old Sophia said in a plaintive voice.

Associated Press contributed to this report.