McBlogmick

You may have heard or read about Sara Jane Olsen's drama this past weekend. Several of my criminal law students sent me great links to articles, and here's the story in a nutshell. remember that we read about two people connected to the Symbionese Liberation Army in the 1970s, Kathleen Soliah and Patty Hearst. Soliah was possibly involved with the group's plans to bomb two police cars, which was foiled when the pipe bombs fell off the cars. She went underground, changed her identity, fled to St. Paul, MN, got married, had kids, and essentially lived as a model citizen for more than 20 years. She was arrested in 1999 and finally pled guilty to some of the crimes she was charged with. She was sentenced under the law as it existed when the crimes were committed, which resulted in substantially shorter sentences than she would receive if the crimes were committed today. She was released on parole Friday and told she could spend that time in St. Paul. At the airport she was detained, and the next day, brought back to prison. Authorities said that they had miscalculated and that she wasn't due for parole for another year. Ouch.

Here's a CNN story and the San Francisco Chronicle story.