Steven Soliah

Steven Soliah was a not a member of the Symbionese Liberation Army. He had been a runner at Humboldt State College[?] but had lost interest in his studies and dropped out. he moved to Berkeley a few months after his sister, Kathleen Soliah, moved there with her boyfriend Jim Kilgore[?]. He stayed with them for a short time before moving into a commune with his new girlfriend at the invitation of his new friend Mike Bortin[?], who hired both Steve and Kilgore[?] to work with him as house painters. Two years later, Josephine Soliah[?] joined her brother and sister in Berkeley.

None of the Soliahs knew their friend Angela Atwood was involved until Kathleen saw the news that Joe Ramiro had been arrested. After the core of the "Army" was killed in a battle with the Los Angeles Police DepartmentKathleen Soliah helped organize a memorial to eulogize Angela at Ho Chih mihn park in Berkeley. Shortly thereafter she was contacted by a desperate Emily Harris and asked for help. Two weeks later the three fugitives left the Bay Area with Jack Scott.

After Patricia Hearst, Bill Harris and Emily Harris returned to the Bay Area in late 1974, they again contacted the Soliah's and asked for help finding housing.

On April 21, 1975, members of the SLA robbed the Crocker National Bank of Carmichael, California, killing Myrna Opsahl in the process. Patricia Hearst stated that Steven Soliah was a getaway car driver. He was arrested and tried for that crime.

His trial is controversial. Soliah closely resembled a customer who walked in on the robbery and fled in fear, and had an alibi provided by a San Francisco masseuse named Emily Toback. On the other hand, one of the bills stolen from the bank was found in the refrigerator of the apartment he shared with Patty Hearst, and his fingerprint was found on the license plate one of the stolen getaway cars. Soliah was acquitted.

After the trial, it was noted that the visitor log at Folsom Prison[?] showed Toback visiting a prisoner at the time she said she was with Soliah. However, jury members said that although they did not believe her, they did not believe the prosecution's witnesses.