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Police don't want Olson in St. Paul

St. Paul police union leader says Sara Jane Olson should stay in California. But she's likely to return to Minnesota.

By CURT BROWN, Star Tribune

Last update: March 11, 2009 - 10:49 PM

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The president of St. Paul's police union followed his Los Angeles counterpart Wednesday, asking California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to force Sara Jane Olson to serve her parole in his state instead of back home in St. Paul.

Despite the police unions' concerns, Gov. Tim Pawlenty said Minnesota lacks the authority to refuse to accept Olson's parole supervision under an interstate agreement governing such cases.

"She should serve her debt where she committed her crimes and not where she was allowed and enabled to remain a fugitive for decades," St. Paul Police Federation President Dave Titus said Wednesday. "Until she's done her parole and is off paper, she shouldn't be able to live wherever she wants to."

Olson, 62, is scheduled to be released from a central California prison Tuesday. She has served seven years for plotting to bomb Los Angeles police cars and participating in a bank robbery in 1975 during which a customer was killed.

Minnesota corrections officials have already approved Olson's request to serve her parole in St. Paul. California officials have not yet made a final decision, but a year ago both states agreed Olson could serve parole in St. Paul. Five days after her release last March, Olson was rearrested at the airport preparing to fly home. California officials cited a clerical error for letting her out a year early and sent her back to prison.

Titus said he talked to Paul Weber, the president of the Los Angeles Police Protective League, last year and both agreed to publicize their objections to Olson's parole. When Weber put out a news release and letters to Pawlenty and Schwarzenegger last week, Titus said he decided to send his own letter to California's governor.

"Returning Soliah to the same neighborhood that harbored her during her 24-year flight from justice is hardly conducive to strict parole monitoring," Titus wrote to Schwarzenegger.

Serving parole

In his letter to the L.A. police union Wednesday, Pawlenty echoed that sentiment, saying he would prefer "Ms. Soliah serve her entire sentence, including her parole, in California" but "the transfer decision rests with the sending state."

Corrections officials in Minnesota and California say interstate agreement routinely allows prisoners released in one state to serve parole in another. They say offenders typically have greater success making the transition from prison when they're near family and friends.

"Basic common sense says, in parole situations, people should serve in communities where they are most likely to succeed," said Stephen Cooper, a local attorney who helped Olson a decade ago.

"There's really no reason for anybody to believe she's a risk to anybody, and I see no reason why anyone should be concerned about her being in Minnesota."

One year of probation

Before her arrest a decade ago, Olson had changed her named from Kathleen Soliah and assumed a new identity in St. Paul, raising three daughters, acting in local theater and working for progressive causes.

Although preliminary paperwork says Olson will be on parole until March 17, 2012, her attorney says pre-1978 California law calls for only one year of probation.

Curt Brown • 612-673-4767

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