Olson’s Lawyers Change Tactics

Attorneys for alleged Symbionese Liberation Army member Sara Jane Olson recently told a judge they plan to change their strategy after learning prosecutors have handwriting evidence that could show she ordered fuses two weeks before the 1975 attempted bombings of two Los Angeles police squad cars, according to a transcript unsealed in the case.

The transcript was from a closed hearing March 16 in the chambers of Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler in which Olson’s attorneys sought a delay in the trial in light of the evidence. The transcript, portions of which were deleted, was released Wednesday after a request from The Times.

Fidler rejected the defense request for a trial continuance, but the 2nd District Court of Appeal has since postponed the trial until September.

Olson, 54, is charged with conspiring in 1975 to kill two Los Angeles police officers by placing bombs under squad cars. The bombs did not detonate.

In public statements, Olson’s attorneys have contended that she was not in Los Angeles at the time of the attempted bombings and that she was never a member of the SLA, only a sympathizer.

Because of the fuse evidence, defense attorney Stuart Hanlon said in the transcript, the defense’s approach will change.

Hanlon said the defense only recently learned that the FBI in 1975 was led to a post office box after its search of an SLA safe house in San Francisco. In the box, agents found 200 feet of fuse, which can be used either for firecrackers or bombs. The defense also learned that the FBI has recovered a letter requesting the fuses, which, prosecutors say, was written by Olson.

As a result, Hanlon told Fidler the defense team plans to try to fight any admission of handwriting evidence during Olson’s trial and will contest the search warrant of the SLA safe house.

“If the people could make Sara Jane Olson ordering fuses for a bomb two weeks before the bombing, the nature of the defense critically changes,” Hanlon said in the transcript, “and I think that’s self-evident.”