Emily Harris (born February 11, 1947 as Emily Montague Schwartz) was, along with her husband
William Harris William or Will or Willie Harris may refer to:
Politicians and political activists
*William Harris (born 1504) (1504–?), MP for Newport, Cornwall
*William Harris (died 1556), MP for Maldon (UK Parliament constituency), Maldon
*William Harris (MP ...
(1945–), a member of the
Symbionese Liberation Army
The United Federated Forces of the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) was a small, American far-left organization active between 1973 and 1975; it claimed to be a vanguard movement. The FBI and American law enforcement considered the SLA to be the ...
(SLA), an
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
left-wing terrorist group involved in murder, kidnapping, and bank robberies. In the 1970s, she was convicted of kidnapping
Patty Hearst
Patricia Campbell Hearst (born February 20, 1954) is the granddaughter of American publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst. She first became known for the events following her 1974 kidnapping by the Symbionese Liberation Army. She was found a ...
.
In 2003, she was convicted of murder in the second degree for being the shooter in a 1975 slaying that occurred while she and other SLA members were robbing a bank in California. She was sentenced to eight years in prison for the murder.
Early life
Born in
Baltimore, Maryland
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
,
[Th]
FBI poster
gives some biographical details. Place of birth is given as Baltimore, Maryland, although with the note "not supported by birth records" and raised in
Clarendon Hills, Illinois
Clarendon Hills is a village in DuPage County, Illinois, DuPage County, Illinois, United States. The population was 8,427 at the 2010 census. It is a south-western suburb of Chicago.
History
In 1961, TWA Flight 529 crashed in Clarendon Hills, ki ...
,
Emily Montague Schwartz was the daughter of Frederick Schwartz, an engineer, and his wife, and had a middle-class upbringing. She graduated from
Indiana University
Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana.
Campuses
Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI.
*Indiana Universit ...
with a bachelor's degree in language arts.
Founding the Symbionese Liberation Army
She married William Harris, whom she had met at the university in
Bloomington. They moved to
Berkeley, California
Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emer ...
in 1973, traveling with friends
Gary Atwood
Angela DeAngelis Atwood (February 6, 1949 – May 17, 1974), also known as General Gelina, was a founding member of the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA), an American terrorist group which kidnapped Patricia Hearst and robbed banks. She was ...
and
Angela Atwood
Angela DeAngelis Atwood (February 6, 1949 – May 17, 1974), also known as General Gelina, was a founding member of the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA), an American terrorist group which kidnapped Patricia Hearst and robbed banks. She was ki ...
. They soon joined a left-wing group organized through the university in Berkeley that, among other things, visited inmates in prisons in northern California. Late that year the Harrises met an escaped prisoner,
Donald DeFreeze
Donald David DeFreeze (November 16, 1943 – May 17, 1974), also known as Cinque Mtume and using the nom de guerre "General Field Marshal Cinque", was known as the "spokesman" of the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA), a small, American far-left gro ...
, who was staying with white leftist activists in Berkeley.
He and
Patricia Soltysik
Patricia Monique Soltysik (May 17, 1950 – May 17, 1974) was an American woman who was best known as a co-founder and activist in the Symbionese Liberation Army, a far-left militant group based in Berkeley and Oakland, California. She participat ...
, a white woman also called Mizmoon, co-founded what became the
Symbionese Liberation Army
The United Federated Forces of the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) was a small, American far-left organization active between 1973 and 1975; it claimed to be a vanguard movement. The FBI and American law enforcement considered the SLA to be the ...
, a leftist group that promoted joining all the progressive causes. Other founding members were
Nancy Ling Perry
Nancy Ling Perry (September 19, 1947 – May 17, 1974, born Nancy Ling) was also known as Nancy Devoto, Lynn Ledworth, and Fahizah while a founding member of the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA), a small leftist terrorist group based in northe ...
,
Joe Remiro
Joseph Michael Remiro (born 1947) is an American convicted murderer and one of the founding members of the Symbionese Liberation Army in the early fall of 1973. It was an American leftist terrorist group based in the Bay Area of California. He use ...
,
Russ Little,
Willie Wolfe
William Lawton Wolfe (February 17, 1951 – May 17, 1974) was one of the founding members in 1972 of the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA), an American radical group based near Oakland, California. While in the group, he adopted the name "Kahjoh", ...
, Angela Atwood,
Thero Wheeler
Thero Lavon Wheeler (1945–2009), aka Bruce Bradley while a fugitive (1973-1975), was a founding member of the Symbionese Liberation Army, an American left-wing organization in the San Francisco Bay area. He left the group in October 1973 as he o ...
, and Camilla Hall.
Emily Harris took the ''
nom de guerre
A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...
'' of Yolanda as an SLA "soldier".
On November 6, the SLA committed its first public act, the assassination of popular
Oakland, California
Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...
school superintendent
Marcus Foster
Marcus Aurelius Foster (March 31, 1923 – November 6, 1973) was an American educator who gained a national reputation for educational excellence while serving as principal of Simon Gratz High School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1966–1969), ...
, the first black superintendent of any major public school system. SLA activists mistakenly thought Foster approved a plan to require student identification cards for Oakland high schools, which they denounced as fascist.
In February 1974 they kidnapped
Patty Hearst
Patricia Campbell Hearst (born February 20, 1954) is the granddaughter of American publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst. She first became known for the events following her 1974 kidnapping by the Symbionese Liberation Army. She was found a ...
, the college student heir to the Hearst newspaper chain.
Later SLA and Opsahl murder
After six other SLA members died on May 17, 1974 in a
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
shootout with police and the house fire it triggered, Emily and Bill Harris took over the leadership of the SLA. They spent more than a year eluding the authorities with Hearst, who had joined the SLA, and new members
Kathleen Soliah
Sara Jane Olson (born Kathleen Ann Soliah on January 16, 1947) is an American far-left activist who was convicted of an attempted murder charge related to a failed bombing plot and a second-degree murder charge related to a botched bank robber ...
and her boyfriend
Jim Kilgore
James William Kilgore (born July 30, 1947, aka John Pape) is a convicted American felon and former fugitive for his activities in the 1970s with the Symbionese Liberation Army, a left-wing terrorist organization in California. After years of res ...
, Soliah's sister
Josephine Soliah
Josephine may refer to:
People
* Josephine (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name)
* Josephine (singer), a Greek pop singer
Places
*Josephine, Texas, United States
*Mount Josephine (disambiguation)
* Josephine Coun ...
and her husband
Mike Bortin
Mike may refer to:
Animals
* Mike (cat), cat and guardian of the British Museum
* Mike the Headless Chicken, chicken that lived for 18 months after his head had been cut off
* Mike (chimpanzee), a chimpanzee featured in several books and documen ...
, their brother
Steven Soliah, and
Wendy Yoshimura
Wendy Masako Yoshimura (born January 17, 1943) is an American still life watercolor painter. She is known for her involvement with the leftist terrorist group, Symbionese Liberation Army, during the mid-1970s. She was born in Manzanar, one of ...
.
Hearst had become a participant in SLA crimes. Yoshimura, Patty's closest friend while underground, was a fugitive because explosives had been stored in a garage she rented. During that year the SLA committed a string of crimes, including an April 21, 1975, armed robbery of
Crocker National Bank
Crocker National Bank was a United States bank headquartered in San Francisco, California. It was acquired by and merged into Wells Fargo Bank in 1986.
History
The bank traces its history to the Woolworth National Bank in San Francisco. Charles ...
in
Carmichael, California
Carmichael is a census-designated place (CDP) in Sacramento County, California, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Sacramento metropolitan area. The population was 79,793 at the 2020 census.
Geography and geology
Carmichael is located a ...
.
During the robbery, customer 42-year-old Myrna Opsahl, a mother of four, was shot to death. Opsahl was depositing a church collection at the time. Hearst stated in her 1982 autobiography ''
Every Secret Thing'' that Emily Harris was the shooter. Hearst stated that Harris said, "Oh, she's dead, but it doesn't really matter. She was a bourgeois pig anyway. Her husband is a doctor." Other SLA members had urged Harris not to bring the shotgun to the robbery, as it had accidentally discharged twice during preparations.
The Harrises were eventually arrested and served eight years in prison for the Hearst kidnapping. They were represented by attorney Leonard Weinglass. Imprisoned at the
California Institution for Women
California Institution for Women (CIW) is a women's state prison located in the city of Chino, San Bernardino County, California, east of Los Angeles, although the mailing address states "Corona," which is in Riverside County, California.
Facil ...
in
Corona, California
Corona (Spanish for "Crown") is a city in Riverside County, California, United States. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 157,136, up from 152,374 at the 2010 census. The cities of Norco and Riverside lie to the north and north ...
, Emily Harris spent the first half of her term in solitary confinement. Emily learned computer programming in prison.
Life after first prison term
After her release from prison in 1983, Harris became a computer programmer. She began a successful computer consulting company. She worked at MGM Studios until her second conviction. She and her husband divorced.
Opsahl murder charges
For over 25 years no one was charged in the Opsahl murder. The SLA wore wigs and masks during the Crocker Bank robbery, and left little evidence behind.
However, with new forensics techniques, the FBI was eventually able to link shotgun pellets removed from Opsahl's body to shotgun shells found in an SLA hideout.
Additional evidence mounted. In January 2002 Harris and three other SLA members were charged with the Opsahl murder. Harris's bail was set at $1,000,000, which her supporters quickly gathered.
Three former SLA members who had been granted immunity – Hearst,
Steven Soliah, and
Wendy Yoshimura
Wendy Masako Yoshimura (born January 17, 1943) is an American still life watercolor painter. She is known for her involvement with the leftist terrorist group, Symbionese Liberation Army, during the mid-1970s. She was born in Manzanar, one of ...
– were set to testify for the prosecution in the Opsahl case.
Facing a possible conviction, Harris and the others pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in November 2002. Emily Harris was sentenced to eight additional years in prison; Bill Harris was sentenced to seven years, and
Kathleen Soliah
Sara Jane Olson (born Kathleen Ann Soliah on January 16, 1947) is an American far-left activist who was convicted of an attempted murder charge related to a failed bombing plot and a second-degree murder charge related to a botched bank robber ...
and
Michael Bortin
The United Federated Forces of the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) was a small, American far-left organization active between 1973 and 1975; it claimed to be a vanguard movement. The FBI and American law enforcement considered the SLA to be the ...
were each sentenced to six years for their roles.
Emily Harris was paroled in February 2007 after having served four years in prison.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Emily
Living people
1947 births
People from Baltimore
Indiana University alumni
American people convicted of murder
American female murderers
American female criminals
Symbionese Liberation Army
20th-century American criminals
Prisoners and detainees of California