Judge Rejects Move to Double Olson’s Bail

A judge refused Friday to double Sara Jane Olson’s $1-million bail because the names and addresses of a current and former police officer were posted on an Internet site created to raise money for her defense.

But Los Angeles Superior Court Judge James M. Ideman warned Olson and her attorneys that the postings, which have since been removed, may prove even more costly in the end--giving prosecutors ammunition to show ongoing intimidation of police officers.

“Advise [your supporters] they are not helping your cause,” Ideman said at a hearing Friday. “They may have unwittingly given the people a weapon and strengthened their case.”

Ideman said he did not have any evidence to prove that Olson was personally responsible for the posting on https://www.saraolsondefense.com.

Deputy Dist. Attys. Michael Latin and Eleanor Hunter wanted Olson’s bail doubled and her lawyers sanctioned for allowing the posting of a defense motion containing the addresses of Los Angeles Police Officer John Hall and former Officer James Bryan.

Olson, now a homemaker and doctor’s wife living in Minnesota, was arrested last year after decades on the lam.

Olson, who changed her name from Kathleen Soliah, is accused of trying to kill Los Angeles Police Department officers in 1975 by placing nail bombs under two squad cars. Hall and Bryan had been assigned to one of those cars.

Prosecutors allege that it was a retaliation for the fiery deaths of six Symbionese Liberation Army members during a shootout with LAPD officers.

Ideman’s ruling came after Officer Hall told the judge that his family has lived in fear since learning in late October that his name and address were posted on the Web site. The judge has since ordered the names removed.

“My wife, my children and my grandchildren live in terror because this defendant over there has [posted] my information. At any time, as long as we live there, they can complete any act that they wish,” he said.

Olson’s defense attorney, J. Tony Serra, denied that she had anything to do with the posting.

Serra complained that prosecutors were trying to use the hearing and Hall’s testimony to “poison the jury pool.” The trial, which is expected to last six months, is scheduled to begin Jan. 8.