Prosecutors Oppose TV Cameras in Olson Trial

If the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office gets its way, the revolution will not be televised.

Gavel to gavel coverage of the trial of Symbionese Liberation Army fugitive Sara Jane Olson “will hinder law enforcement and be detrimental to public safety,” prosecutors said Thursday, opposing a request for television cameras at the trial, to begin Feb. 7.

At most trials, the defense objects to television coverage, while the prosecution remains xneutral. But this is not most trials.

“Here, you have a situation where a defendant believes . . . that to have a fully fair and open trial the camera must be there,” said attorney Karen Frederiksen, who represents CNN and Court TV.

The issue will come up before Los Angeles Superior Court Judge James M. Ideman as pretrial motions begin Monday.

Olson last month joined the news organizations in the request for cameras, stating in her court papers that live television coverage was “a primary way” to ensure her constitutional right to a fair, public trial. But Deputy Dist. Attys. Eleanor Hunter and Michael Latin based their objections on two factors:

“First,” the court papers state, “some of the evidence and witnesses . . . are part of other criminal investigations that are currently being conducted in other jurisdictions. . . . Those investigations may be hindered by live filming of the witnesses.”

The second objection, the prosecutors said, is to televised coverage of expert testimony about “the making of terrorist bombs.”

Olson is accused of conspiring to kill Los Angeles police officers by helping to plant pipe bombs under two squad cars in August 1975. The bombs did not explode.

Defense attorney Stuart Hanlon and Frederiksen pointed out that the bomb-making techniques are outdated by 30 years, and that much more sophisticated material is readily available in bookstores and on the Internet.

“It seems the district attorney is afraid of a public trial and they’re making up excuses,” Hanlon said.