Motion in Olson Case Rejected

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge Monday rejected another request by suspected Symbionese Liberation Army member Sara Jane Olson to throw out the 25-year-old bombing conspiracy indictment against her.

Olson’s defense lawyers had argued in a motion filed earlier this month that the indictment was unfair because Latinos were inadequately represented on the 1976 grand jury that approved it.

Judge Larry Paul Fidler told defense lawyer Steffan Imhoff of Delmar that Olson should have raised that issue in November 1999 when she first tried to quash the indictment using different arguments.

That earlier motion was rejected by Judge James Ideman.

Fidler also rejected Imhoff’s argument that an out-of-county judge should hear the motion. Imhoff said only an outside judge could be impartial because the motion accuses “the entire Los Angeles Superior Court bench” of unfairly excluding Latinos.

In rejecting the request, Fidler noted only one judge from 1976 still presides.

Olson, 54, formerly known as Kathleen Soliah, is accused of plotting to kill police officers while a member of the radical SLA by planting nail-packed bombs under two squad cars. The bombs did not explode.

The grand jury indicted her the following year, but Olson had fled the state. She settled in Minnesota, where she remained in hiding until she was arrested in 1999.

Fidler will resume hearing arguments on about 10 other motions Wednesday and Thursday.

Jury selection could start as early as Monday, with testimony possibly beginning in January.