Working on this new server in php7...
imc indymedia

Los Angeles Indymedia : Activist News

white themeblack themered themetheme help
About Us Contact Us Calendar Publish RSS
Features
latest news
best of news
syndication
commentary


KILLRADIO

VozMob

ABCF LA

A-Infos Radio

Indymedia On Air

Dope-X-Resistance-LA List

LAAMN List




IMC Network:

Original Cities

www.indymedia.org africa: ambazonia canarias estrecho / madiaq kenya nigeria south africa canada: hamilton london, ontario maritimes montreal ontario ottawa quebec thunder bay vancouver victoria windsor winnipeg east asia: burma jakarta japan korea manila qc europe: abruzzo alacant andorra antwerpen armenia athens austria barcelona belarus belgium belgrade bristol brussels bulgaria calabria croatia cyprus emilia-romagna estrecho / madiaq euskal herria galiza germany grenoble hungary ireland istanbul italy la plana liege liguria lille linksunten lombardia london madrid malta marseille nantes napoli netherlands nice northern england norway oost-vlaanderen paris/Île-de-france patras piemonte poland portugal roma romania russia saint-petersburg scotland sverige switzerland thessaloniki torun toscana toulouse ukraine united kingdom valencia latin america: argentina bolivia chiapas chile chile sur cmi brasil colombia ecuador mexico peru puerto rico qollasuyu rosario santiago tijuana uruguay valparaiso venezuela venezuela oceania: adelaide aotearoa brisbane burma darwin jakarta manila melbourne perth qc sydney south asia: india mumbai united states: arizona arkansas asheville atlanta austin baltimore big muddy binghamton boston buffalo charlottesville chicago cleveland colorado columbus dc hawaii houston hudson mohawk kansas city la madison maine miami michigan milwaukee minneapolis/st. paul new hampshire new jersey new mexico new orleans north carolina north texas nyc oklahoma philadelphia pittsburgh portland richmond rochester rogue valley saint louis san diego san francisco san francisco bay area santa barbara santa cruz, ca sarasota seattle tampa bay tennessee urbana-champaign vermont western mass worcester west asia: armenia beirut israel palestine process: fbi/legal updates mailing lists process & imc docs tech volunteer projects: print radio satellite tv video regions: oceania united states topics: biotech

Surviving Cities

www.indymedia.org africa: canada: quebec east asia: japan europe: athens barcelona belgium bristol brussels cyprus germany grenoble ireland istanbul lille linksunten nantes netherlands norway portugal united kingdom latin america: argentina cmi brasil rosario oceania: aotearoa united states: austin big muddy binghamton boston chicago columbus la michigan nyc portland rochester saint louis san diego san francisco bay area santa cruz, ca tennessee urbana-champaign worcester west asia: palestine process: fbi/legal updates process & imc docs projects: radio satellite tv
printable version - js reader version - view hidden posts - tags and related articles

Update on the SJ Olsen Trial

by From the LA Times Thursday, Oct. 25, 2001 at 10:05 AM

copied from oct.24 LA Times

error



Olson Lawyers: Missing Diary Is Key
Trial: The defense says it provides an alibi for the suspected SLA member in 1975 bombing plot.

By STEVE BERRY, TIMES STAFF WRITER

Los Angeles prosecutors have given lawyers for suspected SLA member Sara Jane Olson
thousands of documents connected to the 1975 bomb plot charges she faces.
But there's one key document that defense lawyers say is suspiciously missing, one they
maintain could help provide an alibi.
It is a diary of 1970s radical and ex-SLA associate Wendy Yoshimura, last used by
Oakland prosecutors in Yoshimura's 1976 trial. In that journal, Yoshimura--confused, on
the run and pining for an imprisoned former comrade--records intriguing details about the
brief and violent history of the Symbionese Liberation Army.

More important to Olson are passages that defense lawyers say place her in Northern
California on Aug. 22, 1975, the day that prosecutors say she was in Los Angeles trying
to kill police officers with nail-packed pipe bombs.

Olson's lawyers contend the diary is so important that the charges against their client
should be dismissed because of its unavailability. At a hearing scheduled for this morning,
they will ask Superior Court Judge Larry Fidler to either dismiss the charges against her or
to order prosecutors to find the diary and turn it over immediately.

"There is little question that Wendy Yoshimura's diary is exculpatory evidence," defense
counsel Shawn Snider Chapman said in court papers.

Even if the diary turns up, Chapman says Fidler should dismiss the charges because prosecutors have waited so long to provide it.

Jury selection in Olson's conspiracy trial is due to begin next week, more than two years after the longtime fugitive wasarrested.

Chapman's motion, one of about 10 that Fidler is scheduled to hear beginning today, says police officers seized the diary onSept. 18, 1975, when they raided two SLA safe houses in San Francisco. In those sweeps, FBI agents arrested Yoshimuraand three other SLA fugitives, including Patty Hearst, the kidnap victim-turned-urban guerrilla.

Not all would agree with the defense contention about Olson's whereabouts.

Hearst, in her book "Every Secret Thing," says that Olson, along with former boyfriend Jim Kilgore and SLA leader Bill Harris, were in Los Angeles planting bombs under the two police cars on that August night.

After the SLA arrests, Olson, then in her late 20s and using her given name Kathleen Soliah, went into hiding for 24 years, settling in St. Paul, Minn., where she married a physician. Police arrested her in 1999.

Yoshimura went on trial in Alameda County in 1976 and was convicted of non-SLA-related charges of possessing explosives and a machine gun. She served a year in prison. Now 58, Yoshimura lives in Berkeley, where she shows and sells her artwork and is part owner of the Juice Collective on Berkeley's Vine Street. She could not be reached for comment.

Portions of her diary, which covered the last four weeks of the SLA's turbulent existence, were introduced during her trial. But those portions were not related to the Los Angeles bomb attempts. At this point, nobody seems to know where the diary is.

FBI Had Record of Diary Excerpts

The FBI, at the time of Yoshimura's trial, wrote down detailed excerpts from Yoshimura's diary in some investigative reports, according to Chapman. She said those reports were key sources for investigative reporters Paul Avery of the SanFrancisco Examiner and Vin McLellan of Boston during their research for their 1977 history of the SLA, "The Voices of Guns."

An Olson defense investigator says that shortly before Avery died last year, he said those diary excerpts mentioned thatOlson, Kilgore and Olson's sister, Josephine Soliah, were in Mendocino County during the week of Aug. 22, 1975. McLellan could not be reached for comment.

The reporters mentioned Olson's whereabouts in several paragraphs of their book that had nothing to do with the Los Angeles bombing attempt. The Mendocino County trip was part of a section on the shifting alliances among the SLA members.

It described the "flip-flop pattern of sexual triangles and rectangles," and how Yoshimura was yearning for Kilgore and wondering whether he and Olson would resume their relationship while they were away in Northern California.

Here's how the authors reported the trip: "A couple of days after the Emeryville bombing [which was on Aug. 13, 1975], Kilgore, Kathy and [Olson's sister] Josephine Soliah. . . . took off into Northern California on a scouting trip, apparently seeking a mountain stronghold in Mendocino County. They were gone for a little more than a week, bringing back [to San Francisco] maps of the Mendocino outback, lists of old abandoned mines--trail notes for future Ches [revolutionaries] of California. And while Wendy waited for her man to return, Jim and Kathy, up in the hills, were apparently rediscovering each other."

Authorities later found Mendocino maps at one of the SLA's San Francisco apartments. Josephine Soliah mentioned the Mendocino trip in a letter that her parents received from her on Aug. 23, the day after the Los Angeles bomb attempt.

The FBI excerpts are also nowhere to be found. An Olson defense investigator said Avery told him he got the material from the Alameda County district attorney's files.

They are not there now, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Bill Baldwin, records custodian. Neither is the diary, he said. "Our prosecutors' file doesn't exist, and I don't know why," Baldwin said. He said Los Angeles prosecutors went through the Alameda files more than a year ago, but Deputy Dist. Attys. Eleanor Hunter and Michael Latin declined to say what they found. The diary and FBI excerpts are not in court files, either. In 1986, a judge ordered Yoshimura trial exhibits destroyed. However, an appellate court order in the file referred to the diary in a paragraph dealing with a legal dispute over its usage in Yoshimura's trial.

Olson's lawyers also plowed through the files of Yoshimura's defense lawyer at the time in search of the diary or excerpts from it. They found nothing.

Stuart Hanlon, another Olson lawyer, says the defense will call Yoshimura to testify. Although they have not interviewed her, Hanlon says, "We know what she will say."

Prosecution to Use Hearst's Account

Even if the diary turns up, it will not necessarily be a get-out-of-jail card for Olson. The paragraph in Avery's book that refers to the Mendocino trip is not attributed specifically to the diary. It is connected by a sworn declaration from the defense investigator who interviewed Avery about the diary. The prosecution has other ammunition as well: Patty Hearst, for one.

In her book, Hearst offers a comical account of the bombing attempt in Los Angeles. She says Olson, Kilgore and Harris wanted to coordinate the bombing with a planned bombing in Marin County. She said they drove around Los Angeles looking for a place to plant the bombs and got into a violent argument about what to do with them.

At one point, while stopped at a traffic light, according to Harris, an angry Kilgore hit Olson, giving her a black eye. He and Harris then exchanged blows when Harris rose to Olson's defense, Hearst said.
Report this post as:
Share on: Twitter, Facebook, Google+

add your comments


© 2000-2018 Los Angeles Independent Media Center. Unless otherwise stated by the author, all content is free for non-commercial reuse, reprint, and rebroadcast, on the net and elsewhere. Opinions are those of the contributors and are not necessarily endorsed by the Los Angeles Independent Media Center. Running sf-active v0.9.4 Disclaimer | Privacy