Convicted 1970s leftist militant Sara Jane Olson loses appeal for blocking I-94 in 2020 protest

Sara Jane Olson, the St. Paul woman who served seven years in prison for her involvement in 1970s left-wing criminal plots, lost her appeal Monday to overturn her conviction for blocking Interstate 94 during a protest in Minneapolis two years ago.

The Minnesota Court of Appeals upheld a Hennepin County District Court ruling that convicted Olson of a petty misdemeanor, requiring her to pay a $378 fine. She argued that the state lacked evidence to find her guilty of using a controlled-access highway as a pedestrian.

Olson was in a large group of protesters arrested and charged in November 2020 after marching onto I-94 from the entrance ramp at Cedar Avenue, in response to calls from the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression for nationwide protests the day after the presidential election.

The Minneapolis demonstration led to mass arrests and citations, with hundreds of detained protesters zip-tied and bused away. Law enforcement officers shut down parts of the freeway for hours, while State Patrol troopers encircled protesters who were sprayed with tear gas by Minneapolis police.

Olson, 75, a longtime local activist and theater actress, was a 1970s militant who belonged to the Symbionese Liberation Army and was known as Kathleen Ann Soliah. She helped the group hide kidnapped newspaper heiress Patty Hearst in one of the most celebrated abductions of the century. She was a fugitive from the law for years, changing her name and living in Africa and Washington state before settling in the Twin Cities.

In 1999, Olson was arrested at her St. Paul home for her role in a 1975 plot to blow up two Los Angeles police cars and a Sacramento-area bank robbery that killed Myrna Lee Opsahl. Olson pleaded guilty, received a sentence of 14 years and returned to St. Paul after her 2009 parole from a California prison.

Olson's attorney, Bruce Nestor, declined to comment on the appellate court decision. Olson did not respond to requests for comment.

Appellate Judge Michelle Ann Larkin wrote in the opinion issued Monday that Olson argued the evidence didn't rule out the possibility that she never set foot on the paved roadway or entrance ramp before being encircled by police.

Larkin noted that Olson said she could have been encircled while standing on the grassy area near the roadway, or a passenger in one of the vehicles that blocked traffic and was then herded to the arrest location on I-94.

But Larkin said circumstances didn't support Olson's alternative theories of innocence. "It is reasonable to infer that Olson was among the group of demonstrators that walked on the paved portion of I-94 or its on-ramp," the judge ruled.

Olson was originally charged with creating a public nuisance, but the charge was amended to traffic regulation. Prosecutors offered protesters the option to plead guilty or schedule a first appearance, according to court documents. Olson proceeded with a court trial on Nov. 29, 2021, that was held over Zoom because of the COVID-19 pandemic. District Judge Michael Browne returned a guilty verdict Dec. 3.

The group had passed a posted sign on the on-ramp with the following warning: "Emergency Stopping Only; Pedestrians, Bicycles, Motorized Bicycles, Non-motorized Traffic Prohibited," and Browne ruled it was "unlikely that Ms. Olson accessed I-94 any other way than walking on the highway using the on-ramp with the large group of demonstrators."

Staff writer Paul Walsh contributed to this report.