Patty+Hearst+Trial-Example


 * //Patty Hearst Trial//**

On Feb. 4, 1974, college student Patricia Hearst, was abducted from her apartment at gunpoint. Three days later, her abductors released a tape of Patty telling her parents she was being treated well. The message came from the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA), a radical group that had kidnapped several other people. Patty's father was Randolph Hearst, chairman of the wealthy Hearst Media empire. The SLA demanded that the Hearsts distribute several million dollars worth of food to needy people in California. Her parents met the SLA's demands, but Patty was not released. Two months later Patty Hearst announced in another tape that she had joined the SLA and changed her name to Tania. On April 15, 1974, two bystanders were wounded during an armed robbery of a bank in San Francisco. One of the robbers announced that she was "Tania..Patricia Hearst." She disappeared after the robbery, but was captured by the FBI in September 1975. At the trial, her defense lawyer, F. Lee Bailey, said that Patty took part in the robbery because the SLA threatened to kill her if she didn't. The SLA had held her a prisoner for almost two years and at times during her captivity she had been bound, blindfolded and confined in a dark closet. Bailey offered psychiatric evidence that Patty had been brainwashed and feared for her life. The prosecution stated that Patty had several opportunities to escape her captivity and that she had become an active member of the SLA and had willingly participated in the bank robbery. The jury found her guilty of robbery and the use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. She was sentenced to 7 years. She served over one year. A "Committee for the Release of Patricia Hearst" sent thousands of letters to President Carter asking him to commute her sentence. Her sentence was commuted on Feb. 1, 1979.
 * Date:** February to March 1976 [[image:AP070411015814.jpg width="175" height="255" align="right"]]
 * Place:** San Francisco, CA
 * Crime:** Bank Robbery and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony
 * Defendant:** Patty Hearst, a college student from Berkeley, California
 * Verdict:** Sentenced to 7 years. She served over one year before she was pardoned by President Carter in 1979.
 * Summary:**

Smith, Thomas C. "Patty Hearst Trial: 1976." __Great American Trials.__ Ed. Edward W. Knappman. Vol. 2. New York: Gale Group, 2002. Associated Press. __Patricia Hearst.__ Photograph. 11 April 2007. __AP Images__. Associated Press. Garden Spot LMC, New Holland, PA. 4 March 2009. 