Editing Symbionese Liberation Army (section)

=== 1975 ===

==== Return to the Bay Area ====
[[Emily Harris|Emily]] and [[William Harris (Symbionese Liberation Army)|William Harris]], a married couple who were founding members, remained at large as fugitives with Hearst. Claiming to lead the SLA, they later picked up a few more members and committed more crimes, including the 1975 armed robbery of a bank in [[Carmichael, California]], in which a customer was killed. 

Most of the small group were apprehended in 1975 and brought to trial; most accepted plea deals and served several years in prison.

Initially the Harrises and Hearst stayed in the Bay area.<ref name="Guerrilla 2004"/> By early the next year, Bill and Emily Harris were leaders. They had taken refuge with Hearst for a period on the East Coast, where they were aided by former radical [[Wendy Yoshimura]] from San Francisco. 

After the four returned to the Bay area, the SLA members recruited activists and siblings Steve and Kathleen Soliah, Kathleen's boyfriend [[James Kilgore]], and Michael Bortin. Except for Yoshimura, who was Japanese American and born at the [[internment camp]] where her parents were held during World War II, all the new members were white.

==== Crocker Bank robbery ====
On April 21, 1975, the SLA members conducted an armed robbery of the [[Crocker National Bank]] branch in [[Carmichael, California]], in the Sacramento area. During the robbery, Emily Harris discharged her shotgun and accidentally shot and killed customer Myrna Lee Opsahl, a 42-year-old mother of four children. Five SLA members were ultimately charged in this murder and robbery. 

After being apprehended following years as fugitives, four of them pleaded guilty to reduced charges in early 2002.<ref name="judgement">{{cite news |date= November 8, 2002 |url = http://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/SLA-s-judgment-day-Four-members-of-radical-70s-2773569.php|title = SLA's judgment day / '70s group plead guilty in deadly bank robbery|newspaper = San Francisco Chronicle| access-date = 2017-07-16 }}</ref><ref name="BBC">{{cite news |date= January 17, 2002 <!--22:22 GMT-->|url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1765993.stm|title = America's hippy extremists|publisher = BBC| access-date = 2007-08-18 | last=Sarah Brown |quote=[Hearst] Customer Myrna Opsahl was shot dead as she stood depositing church receipts, killing her instantly.}}</ref>
[[File:Emily Harris (SLA).jpg|thumb|Emily Harris 1975 mugshot]]

==== Hearst capture, trial and conviction ====
After a long and highly publicized search, Hearst was captured on September 18, 1975, along with the Harrises, Steven Soliah, and Yoshimura; they had been found in San Francisco safe houses. In Hearst's arrest affidavit, she claimed that SLA members had used [[LSD]] to drug her and had forced her to take part in the bank raid. 

She was convicted of the Hibernia Bank robbery and sentenced to seven years in prison. After she had been in prison for 21 months, US President [[Jimmy Carter]] commuted the sentence to time served. She was pardoned by President [[Bill Clinton]].<ref>{{cite news|first=Martha|last=Ross|title=Patty Hearst's wild true-crime saga revisited in 'American Heiress'|url=http://www.mercurynews.com/entertainment/ci_30191578/patty-hearsts-wild-true-crime-saga-revisited-american|access-date=6 August 2016|work=San Jose Mercury News|date=31 July 2016}}</ref>  The Harrises were convicted for their part in the Hearst kidnapping and spent eight years in prison.<ref name="judgement"/> Police allegedly consulted [[psychics]] in searching for Hearst.<ref name="esp">{{cite web|url=https://www.spr.ac.uk/publication/reality-esp-physicist%27s-proof-psychic-abilities|title=The Reality of ESP: A Physicist's Proof of Psychic Abilities|website=Spr.ac.uk}}{{Dead link|date=July 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref name="reason">{{cite web|url=http://reason.com/archives/2016/10/08/was-patty-hearst-brainwashed/1|title=Was Patty Hearst Brainwashed?|author=Glenn Garvin|website=Reason.com|date=November 2016|access-date=2016-12-17|archive-date=2016-12-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220171649/http://reason.com/archives/2016/10/08/was-patty-hearst-brainwashed/1|url-status=dead}}</ref>