JUDGE IN OLSON SLA BOMB CASE TO RULE ON DELAY.

Byline: Daily News Staff and Wire Services

LOS ANGELES - A judge is expected to rule today on whether to grant a request by ex-Symbionese Liberation Army member Sarah Jane Olson to delay the start of her trial.

Prosecutors want Sara Jane Olson's trial to start as scheduled on Jan. 8, and accused her and her attorneys of stalling to avoid trial and said the lawyers should be removed for failing to adequately prepare.

Deputy District Attorneys Michael Latin and Eleanor Hunter filed a motion accompanied by a chart showing what they claimed was a purposeful effort to avoid trial.

Olson, who graduated from Palmdale High School in 1965 as Kathleen Soliah, is charged with attempting to murder Los Angeles police officers by planting pipe bombs under squad cars 25 years ago. The bombs did not go off.

``The failure of both counsel to prepare for trial is so egregious that if the court does reward them with another delay the people request that they be removed and replaced with diligent counsel who will prepare for and be ready for trial on the date set,'' the motion said.

It accused attorneys J. Tony Serra and Shawn Chapman of ``purposeful stalling tactics intended to avoid trial.''

Judge Cecil Mills is expected to rule today on whether the trial should be delayed.

The case has been postponed numerous times, most recently when Serra was appointed to the case and said he needed more time to help Chapman prepare for the trial.

Chapman last week denounced the motion and said it was outrageous to suggest that Olson had a hand in the delays.

``I'm offended and outraged by this latest tactic of the District Attorney's Office,'' Chapman said in a telephone interview.

She said prosecutors are aware that two previous attorneys, Stuart Hanlon and Susan Jordan, withdrew for personal reasons and ``this was no fault of my client's.''

``Sara Olson was deeply saddened when the two attorneys of her choice withdrew,'' she said.

After that, a public defender appointed to the case also withdrew due to a conflict of interest, Chapman noted.

Serra, a San Francisco attorney, could not be immediately reached by telephone.

``He is a legendary lawyer, and he is a great lawyer because he tries a lot of cases,'' said Chapman, who described his schedule as overwhelming.

In an affidavit, the prosecutors ridiculed Olson's request for public assistance from lawyers, investigators and paralegals at taxpayer expense, saying she and her husband have an annual income exceeding $300,000 and cannot be considered indigent.

``The defendant was a fugitive for almost 25 years,'' the prosecutors said. ``Approximately 23 witnesses died during the course of her flight and several others have died since her arrest. To repeatedly claim that the defendant is just an innocent victim of circumstance defies logic.

``Even though she was arrested in this case in June 1999, she is still fleeing from justice, just in a different manner.''

Chapman said the defense will soon file an affidavit under seal showing that Olson is indigent.

The prosecutors noted that the current attorneys were seeking a continuance and were particularly critical of Serra, who they said has made only three appearances since he was appointed to the case and ``he has done virtually nothing as per his co-counsel, Shawn Chapman, to prepare for trial over the last seven months.''

The prosecutors said that during a conference with the judge last month, Chapman said that Serra told her he was going to be engaged in another trial on Jan. 8, the date now set for Olson's trial, and he did not expect the Olson case to proceed.

``He, however, failed to inform the court of this ...,'' the prosecutors said. ``It is clear from Mr. Serra's conduct that he has no respect for this court or its orders.''

Chapman defended her preparations for the case, saying it has a ``tortured history'' and that evidence came to her in unlabeled boxes.

``I've been trying to make sense of it,'' she said.

If the continuance is granted, the trial could be delayed until early next spring.