Five members of the Symbionese Liberation Army, a radical U.S. group which gained fame in the 1970s by kidnapping newspaper heiress Patty Hearst, were charged with murder in connection with a 1975 bank robbery which killed a bystander. Authorities announced the charges after police raided homes in Oregon and California to arrest three of the suspects: Emily Harris, her ex-husband Bill Harris and Michael Bortin. Sacramento County District Attorney Jan Scully said that first degree murder charges would also be filed against Kathleen Ann Soliah, who as Sara Jane Olson pleaded guilty in October to aiding and abetting a separate crime committed by the extremist group, and James Kilgore, a former SLA member who remains at large. The murder charges stem from the April 21, 1975 shooting death of Myrna Opsahl, a 42-year-old mother of four who was shot and killed when the group raided the Crocker National Bank in Carmichael, California.
Even if the perps are rounded up in an old folks' home, they should still be brought to trial, no matter how long ago it was. The victim will still be dead. There's no difference between them, Shoe Boy, Johnny Jihad, or the al-Qaeda snuffies at Guantanamo. |