dictionary

New judge to be appointed in the SLA Trial

	LEGAL RESOURCES
Latest Legal News
Law Library
FindLaw Consumer Center Select a topic Bankruptcy Discrimination Divorce Estate Planning Landlord-Tenant Personal Injury Taxes

LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- A new judge will be appointed to preside over the trial of alleged former Symbionese Liberation Army fugitive Sara Jane Olson, Superior Court Judge Cecil Mills said Monday.

Mills, who is presiding over the case on an interim basis, told the courtroom that Judge James Ideman was reassigned. Mills did not elaborate on why the change was being made, but it appeared to surprise many in the courtroom, including Olson.

Mills said he expects Judge Larry Fidler to be assigned the trial, but the final decision will not be reached until next week.

Mills said Fidler is scheduled to spend the first three months of the year sitting temporarily on an appeals court and will not be available to try the case until April. The trial date in the case had been scheduled for January 8.

Meanwhile, Mills said he would rule next Monday, December 18, on the defense's request for a continuance in the trial. Prosecutors asked Mills Monday for more time to file motions opposing it.

In another development, Olson's lead attorney J. Tony Serra was not present at Monday's hearing. He was ordered by Judge Mills to appear in court next Monday. Olson was represented by defense attorney Shawn Chapman.

Olson, formerly known as Kathleen Anne Soliah, is charged with conspiring to murder by planting two bombs in 1975 under Los Angeles Police cars, neither of which detonated, allegedly to avenge the deaths of six Symbionese Liberation Army members who died in a 1974 shootout with police. After eluding capture for nearly 25 years, Olson was arrested in June 1999 in St. Paul, Minnesota.

See related sites about LAW

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.