D.A. Opposes Plan to Air Trial in ‘70s Terrorism Case
Court TV should not be allowed to televise the upcoming Los Angeles trial of alleged Symbionese Liberation Army member Sara Jane Olson, because it could jeopardize her possible prosecution in a Northern California case, the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office argued in documents filed Wednesday.
Court TV is seeking to televise Olson’s trial on charges that she conspired to kill two Los Angeles police officers in 1975 by placing bombs under two squad cars. The bombs did not detonate.
But Deputy Dist. Attys. Michael Latin and Eleanor Hunter say such a telecast could taint jurors who might eventually be asked to judge Olson’s guilt in another SLA-linked crime.
The FBI and Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department have reopened an investigation into a 1975 bank robbery in the Sacramento suburb of Carmichael, in which a customer, Myrna Opsahl, was killed. Recently, Sacramento County Sheriff Lou Blanas told Opsahl’s family that he expects charges to be filed. Olson is among the suspects in the case.
Because testimony at Olson’s Los Angeles trial will include evidence about the Carmichael bank robbery and killing, Hunter and Latin say a live telecast would make it difficult to later find unbiased jurors in Northern California if Olson is prosecuted there.
Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler is expected to hear arguments about the proposed telecast at a hearing scheduled for Friday.
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