Victim of SLA violence is resigned to ex-member's release
With the former Kathleen Soliah out of prison, 'I hope she has learned something from this,' says husband of woman killed in botched '75 bank robbery by gang that kidnapped Patty Hearst.
The husband of Myrna Opsahl, a mother of four shot to death during a botched 1975 Symbionese Liberation Army bank robbery in a Sacramento suburb, hesitated to pass judgment on the release this week of former SLA member Kathleen Soliah. But he indicated he felt her time behind bars was hardly enough.
"It's all pretty much in the past," Dr. Trygve Opsahl, a retired surgeon. "The sentencing system is so complicated it's pretty hard to comprehend. . . . I feel if somebody's involved in murder it used to be the death sentence. But now they just quibble over whether it's a few months or years in jail."
Soliah, who has changed her name to Sara Jane Olson, was paroled this week from a California prison after serving about six years for her role in a plot to kill Los Angeles police officers by blowing up their patrol cars.
The white-haired convict had been sentenced to 12 years in prison. Like most California inmates, Olson earned credit against her sentence for working while in prison. She served on a maintenance crew that swept and cleaned the main yard of the Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla, prison officials said.
Opsahl expressed hope that Olson can offer society some productive years.
"I hope she has learned something from this and can go out and be a good citizen and contribute to the community where she lives," he said. "And still have some life left to live."
As for his own tragic link to the notorious band of 1970s revolutionaries, "it's done and over worth," said Opsahl, 82, now remarried and living in the Sierra foothills town of Sonora. "And I'm kind of putting it out of my mind."
The 61-year-old Olson, who was released Monday, must now serve a three-year parole, although prison officials declined to provide the conditions of her release.
Reached at her family's home in Palmdale on Thursday, Olson refused to comment. Her husband, Dr. Gerald Peterson, who was also at the house, said only that he was "relieved."
Olson's attorney, Shawn Chapman Holley, said, "We're thrilled she's out and can return to her family. For someone who was not a danger or a threat to society, it was six years too long."
Los Angeles police see Olson in far harsher light.
She "attempted to murder LAPD officers by bombing two police cars," said Tim Sands, president of the Police Protective League, which represents the city's 9,300 rank-and-file officers. "She needs to serve her full time in prison for these crimes and does not deserve time off for working in prison. Criminals who attempt to murder police officers should not be able to escape justice simply because they have good lawyers."
