Black Defense Atorney Shawn Chapman HolleyHas Her Work Cut Out For Her
California authorities have re-arrested Sara Jane Olson just as she was leaving to reclaim her life after 6 years in the pokey.
The former member of the radical Symbionese Liberation Army had been paroled on Monday from her stint in a California women's prison for her role in a plot to kill Los Angeles police officers by blowing up their patrol cars.
Officials from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said at a news conference today that they had miscalculated the amount of time she should serve in a separate case in which she pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for participating in a Sacramento bank robbery in which another SLA member killed a customer.
As a result, Olson must now serve one additional year behind bars, per the Los Angeles Times.
Shawn Chapman Holley, the attorney for Olson, who had changed her name from Kathleen Soliah, said her client called her Friday night and told her that prison officials had detained her at LAX Airport when she was about to board a plane for Minnesota and that she had then been taken to her mother's home in Palmdale.
Holley said that on Saturday morning, she called an official of the Corrections Department and was told that there might have been "a computation error" regarding the amount of time Olson was supposed to serve. Holley said Olson's husband and an official from the Corrections Department told her that her client was being taken to a prison in Frontera.
She said she was outraged by the action and asserted that her client had been illegally arrested and is now being "illegally imprisoned."
Holley said she had told Olson goodbye Friday at the home of a Southern California friend. "She met with her parole agent earlier in the day," Holley said. "He told her she was free to go to Minnesota and told her to tell her Minnesota parole agent to call her Los Angeles parole agent on Monday as a formality."
But about 11:15 Friday night, Holley said, she received a call from Olson, who told her that law enforcement officials at LAX "were telling her her travel pass was rescinded and they would escort her back to her mother's home in Palmdale." After midnight, Holley said, she got another call from Olson, telling her that she had been taken to her mother's home in a law enforcement convoy and that although she was not under arrest, law enforcement officials had stationed a car in front of the house and told her she would be followed if she left.
The former member of the radical Symbionese Liberation Army had been paroled on Monday from her stint in a California women's prison for her role in a plot to kill Los Angeles police officers by blowing up their patrol cars.
Officials from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said at a news conference today that they had miscalculated the amount of time she should serve in a separate case in which she pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for participating in a Sacramento bank robbery in which another SLA member killed a customer.
As a result, Olson must now serve one additional year behind bars, per the Los Angeles Times.Shawn Chapman Holley, the attorney for Olson, who had changed her name from Kathleen Soliah, said her client called her Friday night and told her that prison officials had detained her at LAX Airport when she was about to board a plane for Minnesota and that she had then been taken to her mother's home in Palmdale.
Holley said that on Saturday morning, she called an official of the Corrections Department and was told that there might have been "a computation error" regarding the amount of time Olson was supposed to serve. Holley said Olson's husband and an official from the Corrections Department told her that her client was being taken to a prison in Frontera.
She said she was outraged by the action and asserted that her client had been illegally arrested and is now being "illegally imprisoned."
Holley said she had told Olson goodbye Friday at the home of a Southern California friend. "She met with her parole agent earlier in the day," Holley said. "He told her she was free to go to Minnesota and told her to tell her Minnesota parole agent to call her Los Angeles parole agent on Monday as a formality."
But about 11:15 Friday night, Holley said, she received a call from Olson, who told her that law enforcement officials at LAX "were telling her her travel pass was rescinded and they would escort her back to her mother's home in Palmdale." After midnight, Holley said, she got another call from Olson, telling her that she had been taken to her mother's home in a law enforcement convoy and that although she was not under arrest, law enforcement officials had stationed a car in front of the house and told her she would be followed if she left.
(Meet The Attorney Behind The Olsen Case)
Holley scoffed at the suggestion that there had been "a computation error." "We received an order from the state parole board more than a month ago informing us that she would be released on March 17," Holley said. "The idea that suddenly they discovered an error is untrue," Holley said. "What appears to be the truth is they are bowing to pressure from the Police Protective League or someone else.
Police Protective League President Tim Sands issued a statement today after learning that Olson had been prohibited from leaving the state: "Justice is not served if convicted murderer Kathleen Ann Soliah can simply wander back to Minnesota after having only a token sentence for murder and attempted murder. Her prison sentence is not completed until her time on parole has been served. She was a flight risk 30 years ago and she is a flight risk now."
"We have researched the law, and she is officially on parole," Holley said. "The only way someone on parole can be taken into custody is if they have violated parole and it has been determined at a hearing that they have violated parole. There is no allegation that she violated parole." [CNN]
Police Protective League President Tim Sands issued a statement today after learning that Olson had been prohibited from leaving the state: "Justice is not served if convicted murderer Kathleen Ann Soliah can simply wander back to Minnesota after having only a token sentence for murder and attempted murder. Her prison sentence is not completed until her time on parole has been served. She was a flight risk 30 years ago and she is a flight risk now."
"We have researched the law, and she is officially on parole," Holley said. "The only way someone on parole can be taken into custody is if they have violated parole and it has been determined at a hearing that they have violated parole. There is no allegation that she violated parole." [CNN]