Prosecutors File Papers in Sara Jane Olson Case

Prosecutors filed papers in Superior Court on Monday arguing the 1976 conspiracy indictment against former radical Sara Jane Olson should not be dismissed as overly broad because the grand jury had heard evidence of her direct participation in attempts to bomb Los Angeles police cars.

The papers, filed by Deputy Dist. Attys. Eleanor Hunter and Michael Latin, responded to a previous defense motion asking the judge to toss out the 23-year-old indictment. The defense contends that prosecutors have no evidence tying Olson to the pipe bombs, and instead are attempting to put her on trial for other crimes committed by the radical Sybionese Liberation Army.

Prosecutors cited three reasons there was sufficient evidence for a trial:

* Olson embraced the SLA and its violent cause at a speech at a Berkeley rally after the shootout and a safe house fire that killed six members of the radical group, court papers say.

* Although the pipe bombs were discovered before they went off, they were intended to kill. Prosecutors said the bombs contained “triggering devices designed to cause detonation” only when officers were in the car, the engine was running and “the gas lines were full.”

* Identical components were found a month after the bombing attempts at a San Francisco apartment Olson, then known as Kathleen Soliah, shared with other SLA members.

Olson was arrested in June, after 23 years on the run. During that time, she built a life as a doctor’s wife, mother of three, and community activist. She is scheduled to go on trial in January.