Violent Crimes
Justice for Myrna Opsahl

On April 21, 1975, Myrna Opsahl, a wife and mother of four children, walked into the Carmichael-branch of Crocker Bank to deposit the church funds.

Moments later, Myrna lay dying on the floor, her abdomen ripped open by a point-blank shotgun blast from SLA members robbing the bank.

For three decades Sacramento County District Attorney's Office refused to arrest and prosecute the known killers, claiming "Insufficient Evidence."

Opahl's children were left feeling like orphans and forced to bear the DA's message: Myrna Opsahl didn't matter and her life had no meaning.

Travesty of Justice

Myrna Opsahl's youngest son, Jon Opsahl, grew up haunted by what his mom's last thoughts were as she lay on the bank floor, her life slowly slipping away. He has been determined that society would not dismiss her.

He went on a crusade and was the first person who has successfully shown light on the problem of a "Society Collapses When Its Government Will Not Provide Justice."

Jon's courage in persisting that Sacramento County District Attorney Jan Scully provide justice was the catalyst for launching WJFA His inspiration and devotion to justice have given hope to other victims who have been "Cast Away" by prosecutors refusing to provide justice.

Rich Osbourne
WJFA
Posted: August 11, 2001

In 1978, newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst's book "Every Secret Thing" which detailed her time spent with the SLA, identified all the SLA members participating in the bank robbery, and Opsahl's killer - Emily Harris.

But there would be no justice for the Opsahl family.

Opsahl's youngest son, Jon, grew up and became a doctor like his father. He had a good life with a good wife and two daughters. But he never got over the trauma of his mother's brutal slaying by the notorious terrorist group, Symbionese Liberation Army, which was active in the early and mid 1970s. The SLA were college students rebelling against the system.

They killed several people during their exploits, such as a police officer and Myrna Opsahl. They disbanded in the late 1970s and were never heard from again. We now know that most changed their names and fled to to other states to live normal lives with families of their own.

This outraged Jon Opsahl, who year after year, kept begging the Sacramento County District Attorneys to prosecute the known killers. The DAs refused. They kept telling the Opsahl family, "Insufficient Evidence."

Twenty-five years later, the FBI found and arrested SLA member, Kathleen Soliah, who had been living in Minnesota as wife and mother named Sarah Jane Olson. Los Angeles district attorney prosecuted her for several crimes, one of which was the murder of a police officer.

Jon Opsahl, was excited that there would finally be justice. But to shock and horror, Scully and her staff still refused citing, "Insufficient Evidence." Scully has been with the DA's office since Hearst first identified the killers in 1978.

The Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley has public called for the prosecution of the SLA members for the crime of murdering Myrna Opsahl. Scully dug her feet and refused. Cooley publicly announced that he had reviewed the case and determined that there was more than sufficient evidence to get a conviction for Myrna's killing. Scully is still refusing.

The emotional toll that Scully's office has put on the Opsahl family is inexcusable. Jon says the message Sacramento County district attorneys kept giving him was that his mom didn't matter and her life had no meaning.

WJFA has been saying, when district attorney's refuse to provide justice, they are creating society's "Cast-Aways."

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Evidence Ignored, Justice Denied

by: Jon Opsahl
Posted: 2001

Somewhere, in a Sacramento County warehouse, there are boxes of evidence stored away by District Attorney Jan Scully that tell the story of the shotgun slaying of Myrna Lee Opsahl by the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA).

What is presented here is done without benefit of access to those materials and is just the tip of the iceberg. But it so demonstrably corroborates the confession of Patricia Hearst in her book, Every Secret Thing, that it begs the question: Why hasn't Sacramento County DA Jan Scully already brought charges against the former SLA members whose bungled bank robbery that left Myrna Opsahl dead?

One of those inside the bank, Kathleen Soliah, has recently pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting the attempted pipe bomb murder of Los Angeles policemen in 1975. The evidence developed in that case ties her to the Sacramento bank robbery and killing. She faces years in prison.

But even as Myrna Opsahl's callused killers are brought closer to justice, aging witnesses to the April 1975 crime are fading in health and memory. Some have died. The time for delay is over -- opportunity and necessity call for immediate action.

DA Jan Scully, elected in 1994, but has worked in the DA's office since 1978, has mishandled the case as her predecessors had.

One of the eight SLA members, Steven Soliah, was charged for the robbery in 1976. The then-DA relinquished authority to Federal prosecutors -- even though there was no Federal murder statute at the time; Myrna Opsahl became nothing more than a footnote in a Federal robbery trial.

When Steven was acquitted on perjured testimony, the Sacramento District Attorney did not bring charges against him or his lying accomplice. In 1990, the same DA's office made a half-hearted presentation before the county grand jury and promptly declared the case dead and buried the evidence in a warehouse, but not before granting immunity to two of the SLA members who provided nothing in return.

Over the years, the Sacramento DA's office has informed Myrna Opsahl's family that there was no evidence corroborating Patricia Hearst's account of the robbery -- an account that tells who was in the bank, who played a back-up role, and who pulled the trigger. The DA's misrepresentation has denied the family closure and justice.

While pleading that their hands were tied because Hearst's own 1976 felony conviction for the Hibernia Bank robbery in San Francisco had tainted her as a witness, Sacramento prosecutors lobbied against a Presidential pardon for Hearst that would have, in part, redeemed her testimony.

The Sacramento District Attorney's foot dragging went largely unremarked until the June 1999 arrest of Kathleen Soliah (AKA Sara Jane Olson) in Minnesota on an outstanding 1976 warrant for placing pipe bombs under Los Angeles police cars.

Unfortunately, the foot dragging did not stop just because the story of Myrna Opsahl and one of her accused killers found its way to the front page for the first time in two decades. DA an Scully continued her office's record of shame and procrastination by refusing to look at the mounting evidence until Soliah's Los Angeles case was concluded.

In response to pressure, she announced the formation of an investigatory task force; to date, the committee has failed to issue even one public progress report and its most knowledgeable investigator was reassigned to other duties within two months -- after the cameras and reporters left to chase other stories.

And when Kathleen Soliah, faced with a withering array of evidence, pleaded guilty instead of risking a certain life sentence, Jan Scully told the press that the plea had no impact on her independent investigation. The obvious inference is that no amount of evidence will be sufficient for the Sacramento District Attorney.

Los Angeles Deputy DAs Michael Latin and Eleanor Hunter, who prosecuted Soliah for planting pipe bombs, have made it clear that the evidence in the Crocker Bank robbery is even stronger than what they used to convince the defendant to accept a plea. The Opsahl murder case is not only eminently prosecutable, Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley believes it is prosecutable and has offered his office to prosecute it. DA Scully has refused to relinquish jurisdiction.

So, while we wait for the DA Jan Scully to do the right thing, we are putting the question to you: Is the murder of Myrna Opsahl prosecutable?

We want you to decide for yourself. We've let Patricia Hearst tell her story of the SLA's time in Sacramento -- from October 1974 through May 1975. And we've pulled together evidence from a variety of sources that seems to corroborate her tale. We're still looking for more.

If, after reviewing the evidence, you believe that justice for Myrna Opsahl should be pursued, we hope you will help influence the Sacramento DA to either file charges or surrender jurisdiction and allow the Los Angeles prosecutors to take over the case.