Ex-Radical Denied Bail in SLA Conspiracy Case

A judge denied bail Friday for Kathleen Ann Soliah, the long-sought member of the radical Symbionese Liberation Army accused of planting pipe bombs under police cars in Los Angeles.

Ramsey County District Judge Kathleen Gearin said she denied bail because one of the charges against Soliah carries a penalty of life in prison.

Soliah, who authorities say started a new life in St. Paul as Sara Jane Olson, has refused to waive extradition to face the California bomb charges that date back to 1975. Her next hearing was scheduled for July 15.

Her lawyer, Howard Bass, did not return calls seeking comment.

Soliah, 52, captured Wednesday, has become a doctor’s wife, sometime actress and mother of three children.

Meanwhile, Gov. Jesse Ventura said he would sign extradition papers for Soliah if they are presented to him.

While saying Soliah is entitled to a presumption of innocence, Ventura also criticized people who said she shouldn’t be prosecuted. “I think pipe bombs underneath squad cars is a real crime,” he said.

In 1974, the anti-government SLA kidnapped newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst. The case took a bizarre twist when Hearst sent word that she had joined the group.

Hearst was convicted of an SLA bank robbery and spent two years in prison before President Carter commuted her sentence in 1979.

Experts say prosecuting Soliah in California will be a tough job because of fading witness memories and public unfamiliarity with the SLA.

Laurie Levenson, associate dean of Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, said that the woman facing jurors would bear little resemblance to the 1970s radical who was indicted.

“If she has lived an exemplary life, there will be sympathy,” Levenson said. “No one is going to applaud her actions, but it is harder to prosecute a person who lives like the lady next door.”

Los Angeles district attorney’s spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons declined to say what evidence remains against Soliah.