Sara Jane Olson Paroled to Minnesota

Sara Jane Olson was a fugitive from justice for 25 years. In 2001, she was arrested in Minnesota and returned to California to serve sentences for two crimes. In 1975, she was a member of the so-called Symbionese Liberation Army, the SLA, which kidnapped newspaper heiress Patty Hearst and committed numerous other crimes. Olson, also known as Kathleen Soliah, ultimately pled guilty to placing pipe bombs under Los Angeles police cars and participating in a Sacramento bank robbery during which a woman was killed. Today, after serving half of her 14-year sentence, she was paroled back to Minnesota, despite the objection of that state’s governor, Tom Pawlenty. Governor Schwarzenegger said he lets the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation take care of such issues.