For Immediate Release
Contact:
Eric Rose (805) 624-0572 or
Ryan Oliver (310) 854-8272
Los Angeles, March 20, 2009 – The Los Angeles Police Protective League is once again asking that a former member of the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA), James William Kilgore, be stopped from leaving California before completing his parole within the state.
Earlier this week, fellow SLA terrorist Kathleen Ann Soliah was released on parole to Minnesota despite the objections of the LAPPL, the St. Paul police union and the governor of Minnesota. Unlike Soliah, however, Kilgore has never even lived in the state he is requesting to serve parole in.
In his letter to the High Desert State Parole Board, LAPPL President Paul M. Weber urges board members not to grant Kilgore’s request to serve parole in Illinois when he is released in May. Kilgore was the boyfriend of Soliah (aka Sara Jane Olson) when the two were members of the SLA in the 1970s. Kilgore fled to South Africa and eluded capture until 2002.
He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the 1975 bank robbery shooting of Myrna Opsahl in Carmichael, Calif., and was given a six-year prison sentence. LAPD investigators also believe that Kilgore assisted Soliah in a failed SLA plot to kill LAPD officers with a pair of car bombs.
Weber said he believes that Kilgore’s request to serve parole in Illinois is unlawful. California is part of the Interstate Compact for Adult Offender Supervision, which requires a parolee to have been a legal resident of the state where they want to serve parole.
“Mr. Kilgore was born in Oregon and grew up in California.” Weber said. “He was captured in Cape Town, South Africa, where he had been living on the lam for almost three decades as one of America’s most wanted fugitives.”
“We are asking the parole board to ensure that state law is adhered to and keep Mr. Kilgore here during his parole. His last legal residence was in California, and this is where he committed his crimes.”
The letter to the parole board was copied to California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn, Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Steve Cooley, LAPD Chief William Bratton, Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo and the Los Angeles City Council.
Weber said Kilgore can be better monitored in California during his parole because the state has a stronger interest in the case. The two-hour gun battle in 1974 between LAPD officers and SLA members remains the largest in the history of California law enforcement.
“Kilgore was a member of an organization that terrorized California residents and law enforcement for two years,” Weber said. “We believe it is the duty and the right of the community targeted by the SLA’s violence to ensure its members fully comply with their sentences.”
Text of letter sent to Parole Board
Dear Members of the Parole Board:
As President of the Los Angeles Police Protective League (LAPPL), on behalf of over 9,800 sworn members of the Los Angeles Police Department and many others in the law enforcement community, I urge you to not grant James William Kilgore’s request to serve parole in Illinois.
Mr. Kilgore joined the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA), a domestic terrorist group of the 1970s, with friend Kathleen Soliah (Sara Jane Olson) after six of its founding members were killed in a shootout with the Los Angeles Police Department in 1974.
In April 1975, SLA members robbed the Crocker National Bank in Carmichael, California – killing Myrna Opsahl, a 42-year old nurse and mother of four, in the process.
In August 1975, Kilgore and Soliah tried to murder LAPD officers by planting pipe bombs under two Los Angeles police cars.
Following his participation in the 1975 Carmichael bank robbery and murder of Opsahl, and the attempted murder of LAPD officers, Mr. Kilgore escaped from justice by fleeing to South Africa, where he lived for nearly 28 years before being caught.
As the record shows, after his capture, Mr. Kilgore was extradited to the United States, where he pleaded guilty to the second-degree murder of Opsahl and was sentenced to six years in prison.
Because Mr. Kilgore has never lived in the state of Illinois, we assert that he does not deserve the right to serve his parole there. California was his last legal residence before fleeing to another country and he committed his crimes here. The community he terrorized has the right and the duty to ensure Mr. Kilgore complies with all terms of his parole, including serving his full sentence here.
We urge you to keep this domestic terrorist behind bars and ask that he not be granted parole to Illinois. Thank you for considering our views on this matter.
Very truly yours,
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Los Angeles Police Protective League
PAUL M. WEBER
President
cc: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Governor, State of California
Pat Quinn, Governor, State of Illinois
Steve Cooley, Los Angeles County District Attorney
Rocky Delgadillo, Los Angeles City Attorney
Los Angeles City Councilmembers
William J. Bratton, Chief of Police
About the LAPPL Formed in 1923, the Los Angeles Police Protective League (LAPPL) represents the more than 9,800 dedicated and professional sworn members of the Los Angeles Police Department. The LAPPL serves to advance the interests of LAPD officers through legislative and legal advocacy, political action and education. The LAPPL can be found on the Web at www.LAPD.com
