Patty Hearst Kidnapping

Armed SLA members entered the Berkeley apartment shared by 19-year-old Hearst and Steven Weed, attacked Weed and forced Hearst into a waiting car.

A communiqué delivered to KPFA radio claimed responsibility for the kidnapping, described Hearst as a political prisoner and threatened to kill her if authorities attempted a rescue.

A tape delivered to KPFA carried Hearst’s voice and DeFreeze’s demand that her family fund food distributions for people in need.

Randolph Hearst committed approximately $2 million to a food-distribution program. The undertaking attempted to satisfy the captors' terms, but it did not secure his daughter's return.

Crowding and disorder disrupted the first People in Need food distribution, with injuries and arrests reported. A second, better-organized distribution took place on February 28.

In a recording released by the SLA, Hearst said she had chosen to remain with the group and had adopted the name Tania.

Hearst and other armed SLA members robbed Hibernia Bank’s Sunset branch at 1450 Noriega Street. Security cameras recorded her carrying a weapon inside the bank.

After William Harris was confronted over shoplifting at Mel’s Sporting Goods in Inglewood, Hearst fired toward the store from a vehicle outside. Hearst and the Harrises fled and took teenager Thomas Matthews with them.

Police surrounded an SLA house on East 54th Street in Los Angeles. A prolonged gun battle and fire killed six members, including Donald DeFreeze and William Wolfe. Hearst and the Harrises were elsewhere.

An SLA robbery at Crocker Bank in Carmichael killed Opsahl while she was depositing church collections. Hearst's later account and evidence concerning the remaining group became relevant to a prosecution pursued decades later.

Authorities arrested Hearst and Wendy Yoshimura in San Francisco. Bill and Emily Harris were captured separately that day after investigators tracked associates of the fugitives.

Jail officials recorded Hearst speaking to her friend Patricia Tobin through the visiting-room communication system. The recording became prosecution evidence and a major issue in later legal challenges.

Jury selection, which began January 27, ended February 4. The prosecution presented the Hibernia surveillance images, recordings and evidence of Hearst’s later actions. The defense argued that she had acted under duress.

The jury convicted Hearst of federal bank-robbery and firearm offenses after hearing her duress defense.

Judge William H. Orrick Jr. sentenced Hearst to seven years on the robbery count and two years on the firearm count, with the terms to run concurrently.

The Ninth Circuit affirmed the conviction, rejecting challenges involving the Tobin recording, the scope of cross-examination and the exclusion of proposed defense evidence.

Bill and Emily Harris pleaded guilty to kidnapping Hearst. They received sentences of ten years eight months to life.

President Jimmy Carter commuted Hearst’s federal sentence on January 29. She was released from prison on February 1, 1979.

The Ninth Circuit partly vacated the denial of post-conviction relief and ordered hearings on three claims concerning F. Lee Bailey’s publication interests and trial decisions. It affirmed the remaining rulings.

President Bill Clinton granted Hearst a federal pardon on January 20, 2001, the final day of his presidency.

William Harris, Emily Harris, Kathleen Soliah, also known as Sara Jane Olson, and Michael Bortin pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the 1975 killing of Myrna Opsahl during the Carmichael bank robbery.

The four defendants received prison terms for Opsahl’s murder. Emily Harris received eight years after acknowledging that she fired the fatal shot.