Olson Judge to Hear Views Over Witness

The judge in the trial of former radical Sara Jane Olson set a hearing Tuesday to hear arguments that he should allow the videotaped testimony of a defense witness dying of cancer in Oregon.

Defense attorney Susan B. Jordan claims that Jack Scott, 57, will contradict key details of Olson’s alleged involvement with the Symbionese Liberation Army’s 1970s crime rampage.

Jordan said Scott’s testimony needs to be recorded because he is terminally ill and may not live to testify in person.

“This is an effort to preserve his testimony,” Jordan said.

At Friday’s hearing, Superior Court Judge James M. Ideman told Jordan that he’s “willing to be convinced” of her argument, but that she had cited the wrong section of the California Penal Code as the authority for him to order a court-sworn deposition out of state.

The judge set a new hearing for Tuesday.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael Latin said the prosecution opposes an out-of-state deposition.

Olson, a St. Paul, Minn., homemaker who did not attend Friday’s hearing, is accused of conspiring to kill police officers by planting pipe bombs under two Los Angeles police squad cars in August 1975 to avenge the deaths of several SLA members.

The bombs in question were discovered before they exploded and no one was hurt.

In 1974, Scott agreed to hide SLA members William and Emily Harris and SLA victim-turned-convert Patricia Hearst.

Olson changed her name from Kathleen Ann Soliah during her years as a fugitive. She was captured in Minnesota last year.