- 4 days ago
The story of the 1974 kidnap of teenage heiress Patty Hearst, which set off one of the most bizarre episodes in recent American history.
With GUERRILLA: THE TAKING OF PATTY HEARST, filmmaker Robert Stone brings into sharp focus the mood of the early 1970s, a mood that inspired the formation of the first radical domestic terrorist cell to become a media sensation in the United States, the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA). The SLA wreaked havoc on the West Coast and our national psyche for over two years, leaving behind a rich trove of paranoid recordings and scores of violent acts, including the kidnapping of heiress Patty Hearst who would subsequently join the SLA under the alias "Tania." As much as thriller as it is a document of the times, GUERRILLA brings a striking, shocking moment in our nation's history back to light.
With GUERRILLA: THE TAKING OF PATTY HEARST, filmmaker Robert Stone brings into sharp focus the mood of the early 1970s, a mood that inspired the formation of the first radical domestic terrorist cell to become a media sensation in the United States, the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA). The SLA wreaked havoc on the West Coast and our national psyche for over two years, leaving behind a rich trove of paranoid recordings and scores of violent acts, including the kidnapping of heiress Patty Hearst who would subsequently join the SLA under the alias "Tania." As much as thriller as it is a document of the times, GUERRILLA brings a striking, shocking moment in our nation's history back to light.
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00:00For the rest of my life, I will continue to feel a deep sense of remorse and sadness for
00:26my will and the death of Mrs. Opsall and the suffering that that caused her family.
00:33My heartfelt sense of the apologies for all of you.
00:39Hopefully today, we'll bring an end to the legal proceedings and provide for the information
00:47for the Opsall community.
00:56Mr. Bordon, do you wish to be heard?
01:07No, you are.
01:08Mr. Harris, do you?
01:09Yes, Judge.
01:11It's quite obvious to everybody that I read.
01:22What happened here today?
01:23I'm sorry.
01:24Mr. Harris.
01:25I don't know.
01:26I'm sorry.
01:27It's obvious probably to everyone that I'd rather not be here today.
01:33But this is my only opportunity to speak to you.
01:45I think it goes, I've read everything that the Opsall family has written to the formation
01:52department.
01:54And I actually automatically and absolutely respect everything you said.
02:02It's all justified.
02:04Some of the things that you believe and some of the things that you've articulated are based
02:11upon things that are not accurate.
02:14You spent about 30 years dealing with this horrible effect of your life.
02:19And almost everything that you've had to glean about it is from the past media.
02:23Some things from law enforcement and so forth.
02:28Much of what you've probably read is accurate, but a whole lot of it is real time.
02:32For the last 30 years, we've all been monsterized and easy targets.
02:39And that's our own vision.
02:42I don't expect you to have any positive feelings about me whatsoever.
02:49Because if I was in your place, I'd probably have been restored in some fashion.
02:54If I hadn't been restored in some fashion by the process, there are a lot of people sitting
03:01in this courtroom right now who don't believe that justice has been done by what's happening
03:05today.
03:06Primarily I think you feel that way.
03:08And you have every right to feel that way.
03:10Because you haven't had justice.
03:12You've never had justice.
03:15And I don't really know what it would be that would give you justice based on the way
03:22the system functions.
03:24And quite remarkably, this has worked really well.
03:27This has been a remarkable effort by one of the best judges I've ever seen in my life.
03:31By some prosecutors who tried to get a resolution for lawyers who worked hard to defend a plea.
03:36But realistically, I know you're not going to walk out of here today feeling very good.
03:40I don't expect you to.
03:45Let's see if I can.
03:52People have asked me, would you ever consider asking the Opso family for forgiveness?
03:57And really I wouldn't because it's not my right to ask for forgiveness.
04:00I don't even ask for forgiveness myself.
04:03I don't deserve forgiveness myself.
04:05It's my role and what happened to you.
04:10This may seem self-serving.
04:12It may seem that it's set to do something for me in the future, but it's not.
04:17I'm not getting anything out of this really whatsoever.
04:24I hope in some way in the future that some of the horrible experiences and feelings and days and nights that you've had, all of you, because of my role in the murder of your mother.
04:42She didn't die.
04:44She was killed.
04:45She was shot.
04:46Of course, it was bankrupt.
04:48Albeit accidentally, but it doesn't really matter.
04:51That doesn't change anything for you.
04:53There's absolutely no way for me to repair you.
05:00Nothing I can do except tell you that I've thought about your mother a lot.
05:12Your mother's never been abstract to me.
05:15You've never been abstract to me.
05:18Everyone who knows me in this courtroom knows that I'm speaking the truth now.
05:24Because I talked about my role in this death?
05:26Absolutely not.
05:27They know me as a person.
05:28And they know that I have felt horrible on your behalf.
05:32I don't expect that to mean anything for you.
05:34Really, truly.
05:35This is me telling you something about how I've lived like this.
05:39It's absolutely unacceptable that this happened.
05:44The mother was killed.
05:46The mother was killed.
05:47The life was ended.
05:49The children lost their mother.
05:51The husband lost his companion.
05:56Everyone here can imagine what that didn't mean to you.
05:59And only you know that what it really was.
06:04I just want you to know that I understand.
06:06You don't have to remind me of what's happened to you.
06:08It's a little abstract to me because it didn't happen to me, but truly I understand and I've thought about it a lot.
06:19I accept everything that John in particular said because he's really been the motive for us for having some resolution.
06:25And I admire you for that, John, I really do. You know, you're one of the people that struggle for something.
06:32You have every right to do it. Maybe it didn't make you feel good when it was happening, but you had a right to do it.
06:39And you were successful to some extent, although you're not going to walk out of here today feeling congested.
06:44You might not feel that way for a while.
06:48I'll say something else. You know, I read something in one of your letters to the relations club before.
06:52It's kind of revealing. It says, obviously, to you, the irony of the impact of this on me and my family is not lost.
06:58And it's not lost, really. It's not a frame.
07:03We are truly abstractions to you because we are the hated, hateful monsters that you've known for three decades
07:12that are responsible for killing your mother and who haven't been brought to justice.
07:17And I admit we didn't march in and volunteer.
07:21And maybe you don't know this, John, but in 1978 I offered to plead to a second degree murder in this case
07:26I knew my lawyers in Alabama County and it was rejected.
07:30I'm sure no one's ever told me that.
07:34And there was an obvious self-serving intent behind that, truly.
07:38Because it was an opportunity to not spend a life in prison.
07:45Do you think that I would volunteer for a life in prison? Absolutely not.
07:48I've already spent eight years in prison. Nobody should do a life in prison.
07:52It's better to be dead.
07:56I thought about not saying anything because, you know what, this is really your day.
08:02And I really, I know I'm attuning on what you want to say and I apologize.
08:06I really, truly do.
08:08But it's important for me to have this one opportunity to speak to you.
08:12And let you know that I know, I understand, I don't have the same fear that it didn't happen to me.
08:18But you know what, John? If you were my children, you wouldn't say that the impact on them had the same relevance that you think it might do.
08:28I mean, you know, it's really for me. The effect on my family from my incarceration is going to be devastating.
08:34Maybe not as devastating, not even close to being as devastating as the murder of your mother was for you.
08:40I grant you that. But you know what? I also know that if you knew my children, you wouldn't feel that way.
08:46Because they wouldn't be abstracting you any longer. They're people.
08:50If I knew your mother and had some opportunity to keep this happening, it wouldn't happen.
08:54But that's impossible.
08:56I just want you to understand.
08:58And I accept everything you say when you get up to speak. I really do it.
09:02I really like to do it.
09:06But everything is not exactly what it appears to be.
09:10And I think you know that, and I know that.
09:14And again, you know, I wish there was some way to restore you.
09:18I wish there was some way to restore me.
09:20I wish there was a process that we could come together and create that made us all feel good about this.
09:26I don't know what that is.
09:27Because the lawyers think this is a remarkable thing to be done.
09:30You know, we've settled this, we get to go to prison for a short time, and then we get to go home.
09:35And you get what? An opportunity to speak in public?
09:39It's not enough. It's not enough.
09:43But it's my last chance to let you know how I really feel about this.
10:01I appreciate the opportunity to accept anything that you do.
10:11Thank you, Mr. Harris.
10:13Mr. Nickerson, have you left me half?
10:15Mr. Nickerson, have you left me half?
10:17Mr. Nickerson, have you left me half?
10:25Mr. Nickerson, have you left me half?
10:29No?
10:33Before I read the statement prepared, I'd just like to have been looking at Paris, just so that you know that there's no one in this room that wishes more.
10:46If we could turn back this clock, 28 years, and allow all of you to make better choices, and not have to go through this main insight.
10:54But my name is John Opsall, and I had just turned 15 years old when my mother, Vern Opsall, was brutally slain by the defendants.
11:05Having my mother ripped out of my life at such a critical age has caused me a great deal of pain and anguish.
11:11For nearly 28 years, I've lived with the fact that my mother entered a neighborhood bank with two friends on a spring Monday morning, only to be confronted by a gang of gun-wielding, masked thugs.
11:23A moment later, my mother was shot, shot at close range, shot without provocation.
11:30My mother collapsed to the cold-piled floor.
11:33She laid there in a pool of her own blood and moaned in pain while she watched her killers terrorize the other customers and forbid the staff from coming to her aid.
11:44For nearly 28 years, I've lived with the fact that my mother, as a nurse, must have realized that without immediate medical attention,
11:50the gun-wielding wound to her gut was sure to be fatal.
11:55I've imagined the hopelessness that my mother must have felt as her pleas for mercy went ignored.
12:01I've imagined the overwhelming sadness that must have come over her as it became obvious she was not going to make it.
12:07That she had been needlessly shot and left to die, and that she was now going to miss out on what would have been the very best years of her life.
12:16I've imagined the intense fear that my mother must have faced in those last few moments,
12:26as she was forced to let go, never knowing whether her husband and her four children, who she loved so much, were going to be okay without her.
12:34For nearly 28 years, I've lived with the fact that my dear, compassionate dad was called to the crime scene,
12:43saw the pool of blood which he had laid, and then rushed back to the hospital,
12:48where he tried desperately to revive his wife's life for spotting.
12:53The news that he'd be made little mention of my mother's killers.
12:57Instead, the newscaster emphasized, of all things, how my dad's efforts to save his wife failed.
13:03For several years, following my mother's murder, I struggled every day with tears, confusion, and anger.
13:12I could not understand how anyone could dismiss the precious life of such a wonderful person.
13:18And to make things even worse, I really could not understand why somebody wasn't doing something about it.
13:25The harsh reality of it all was difficult to accept.
13:27A group of pathetic, deranged revolutionaries simply decided one day to make my mother instantly and permanently expendable.
13:36Everyone knew who did it.
13:41Everyone agreed it was a heinous and senseless crime.
13:43But no one could explain why the defendants were not being held accountable.
13:48For nearly 28 years, I have lived with the fact that monsters do exist.
13:52That homegrown terrorism is real.
13:54That the incomprehensible happened.
13:57Including us.
13:58And that beyond our family and church, no one else seemed to care.
14:03Including, and especially, the defendants.
14:07I had been fortunate enough to be part of a happy and stable family.
14:10But then when the defendants murdered my mother, I discovered that it was my mother's love for her husband
14:15and her devotion to her children that made our lives together so blessed.
14:19There are simply no words that can adequately describe the grief and loss that our family suffered when our mother was taken from us.
14:28Whether her murder was a careless accident or a planned assassination, the end result was the same.
14:33She was dead and our family was devastated.
14:37From the outside, it may have appeared that our family adjusted to our loss
14:40and that we carried on with our lives a little affected.
14:44My dad continued his surgical practice and soon remarried.
14:47The children all graduated from high school, then college, and finally medical school.
14:52We each became doctors, got married, and now have careers and families of our own.
14:56But from the inside, our mother's absence through it all was sorely felt.
15:01We each became more vulnerable, and we each suffered in our own way.
15:05My father wanted to recapture the companionship he had shared with his spouse,
15:09and he wanted to fill the void that was evident in his children's lives.
15:13But his second marriage was disastrous.
15:15His new wife took us for everything, from our college funds to our very home.
15:20My dad once again was alone and now betrayed, and the void for all of us intensified.
15:26Not having our mom's daily guidance and encouragement,
15:29our schoolwork and social lives became much more difficult.
15:32We missed her greatly, and any comfort that we sought in remembering her
15:35was scarred by the violent image and lingering injustice of her death.
15:39Now at 42 years old, I find myself the same age that my mother was when her life was taken.
15:48And it is only now that I find myself able to fully appreciate just how tragic her loss has been.
15:54As she was then, so I am now.
15:57I am happy, healthy, have a wonderful spouse, and adorable children.
16:03I know now just how much my mother really wanted to live.
16:07Unfortunately, the more aware I become of all the blessings that life has to offer,
16:14the more aware I am of what my mother actually lost when she was killed.
16:19My mother wanted to see her children complete their education and develop their careers.
16:24She wanted to be there at her children's graduations and on their wedding days.
16:29She wanted to know her son and daughters-in-law.
16:31She wanted to be there when each of her 11 grandchildren were born.
16:37She wanted to be there with us every step of the way to share in our lives,
16:43to help make the good times better, and the tough times not so bad.
16:47She wanted to be there to comfort her parents in their old age.
16:51She wanted to grow old herself with her husband and eventually meet a natural death
16:56with the dignity and contentment that living a good and long life would have brought her.
17:02Instead, Myrna Opsil was murdered in her prime and then nearly forgotten.
17:06When I was only 15 years old, I lost my mother and her love for me.
17:11But what my mother lost was much more.
17:14When she was only 42 years old, she lost her life.
17:18And with it, she lost everyone she loved and everyone that ever loved her.
17:22Nothing can be said or done that will ever make up for that loss.
17:25But as part of the plea bargain arrangement, each defendant agreed to admit their guilt
17:31for the murder of Myrna Opsil and apologize for the damage that they caused
17:37in exchange for a limited prison term.
17:40I do believe that justice and mercy go hand in hand.
17:43But the problem with showing compassion in this case is that the evilness of the murder
17:48has been compounded by the defendants over the years with their silent indifference for
17:53my mother's life.
17:55Not only did the defendants have that moment in the bank to change course and possibly
17:59prevent her death, they had plenty of opportunities after that to learn from their mistakes and
18:05to refrain from further violence without necessarily giving up their imaginary cause.
18:09But instead of choosing peaceful methods, the defendants continued to use violence even after
18:15they had my mother's blood on their hands.
18:18They bombed public buildings, they tried to kill police officers, they continued to show
18:23complete disregard for human life.
18:26Fortunately, the Symbionese Liberation Army was stopped.
18:30Emily Monahue, William Harris, and Michael Horton each served prison terms for various SLA-related
18:37crimes, and to their credit, they were rehabilitated, and they have led responsible lives ever since.
18:43On the other hand, Kathy Salaya went underground.
18:46She then had the audacity to assume a life much like the one she had taken from my mother.
18:51And in the process, she shamelessly deceived her family and her friends, and she broke laws
18:56to hide from her past.
18:57Ever since the SLA was disbanded, each one of the defendants has had the opportunity to make
19:04amends to the Alpsal family if they had felt so morally inclined.
19:08Not one of the defendants ever offered even an anonymous apology.
19:12Not one of the defendants ever made even the smallest contribution to the Myrna-Alpsal Memorial
19:16Education Fund.
19:18And I'm quite certain that not one of the defendants ever visited my mother's grave to offer their
19:23alleged respects.
19:25I can only conclude that their silence through the years expressed their true sentiment, and
19:29that is to the defendants.
19:31As long as they were never caught, my mother's death really did not matter.
19:35Then in June 1999, Kathy Salaya was captured, and from that time forward, the evilness of
19:42the murder has been compounded by the defendants with their denials, excuses, and arrogance.
19:47They adamantly renounced any involvement in the Carmichael-Crocker bank robbery, and they
19:52called Patricia Hearst a liar when she was the only one that had the courage and compassion
19:56to tell the truth.
19:58And as even more time passed, and as more evidence surfaced revealing their guilt, the
20:02defendants only became more defiant, and their posturing became more offensive.
20:06The worst of it was when the defendants would actually try to make themselves the victims
20:10and meet the villain.
20:13But finally, last November, the defendants admitted their guilt and expressed their remorse
20:17and regret for the murder of Myrna Afzal.
20:20But their admissions and apologies come only after years of silence, only after they were
20:27caught, and in some cases only after their lies and hypocrisy had to be exposed.
20:32Even more disturbing is the fact that their guilty pleas are conditional.
20:37The defendants have each threatened to withdraw their admissions and in effect take back their
20:41apologies if they have to serve more than their bargain time.
20:44So for me today, their apologies are far too little and far too late.
20:50I hope the defendants will be more genuinely repentant after spending a few years behind
20:55bars.
20:56Perhaps they will do some serious soul-searching, and maybe someday they will resolve the remaining
21:01inconsistencies.
21:04Michael Borton has admitted his guilt for the murder of Myrna Afzal, but he still insists that
21:09although their methods were misguided, their goal was good.
21:12Mr. Borton would have us believe that the greatest harm the SLA ever did was to distract
21:18from the social movement that they claimed they were attempting to ensure.
21:22In reality, Mr. Borton knows that the SLA was nothing but a joke, except for the carnage
21:26left in its wake.
21:29Kathy Celaya has admitted her guilt for the murder of Myrna Afzal, but she still insists that
21:33he was not the leader of the remnant SLA, but she never intended to hurt anyone in the bank
21:39that day.
21:40In reality, Ms. Celaya knows that she kicked a pregnant teller who was lying on the floor
21:42of that bank, not far from where my mother was bleeding out.
21:44Ms. Celaya would have us believe that never happened.
21:46If it did, it wasn't her fault, the woman miscarried.
21:48If it did, it wasn't her fault, the woman miscarried, but if it was, then that too was certainly
21:53unintentional.
21:56William Harris has admitted his guilt for the murder of Myrna Afzal, but he still insists
22:01that he was not the leader of the remnant SLA, even though he took on the designation of
22:04General Field Marshal.
22:06Mr. Harris would have us believe that taking federally insured funds was not really stealing,
22:10that the money was needed for their very survival, and that no one was supposed to get hurt.
22:17In reality, he knows that stealing federally insured money is stealing from everyone, that
22:22the money was for the violent overthrow of the government, and that in his war against America,
22:27tens of thousands were meant to get hurt, if not killed.
22:37Emily Monahue has admitted her guilt for the murder of Myrna Afzal, but she still insists
22:42that my mother's death was completely accidental.
22:45She would have us believe that her safety clip must have slipped, that her gun accidentally
22:49discharged, and that she shouted out the seconds in the bank while in a state of complete shock.
22:54In reality, Ms. Monahue knows that she studied revolutionary tactics where innocent victims were sometimes
22:59assassinated in order to gain respect and loyalty from their comrades, that she planned and practiced
23:05that drill for days, and that she ignored the warnings about using her shotgun because
23:09of its hair trigger.
23:12Many questions still persist about the defendant's past actions, but for right now and right here,
23:16the defendants have at least admitted their guilt for the murder of Myrna Afzal.
23:21And with that, I can forgive them, but that is only for what they did to me.
23:26The defendants still owe their death to society, and they still have to live with themselves.
23:32I hope this process of holding the defendants accountable will help them gain insight to
23:35their past and enable them to sincerely ask forgiveness from all of their victims, including
23:40their families, but also from themselves and from God.
23:44And I challenge the defendants to make a daily conscious decision during their time in prison,
23:49to explore the whole truth, to be humbled by it, to be grateful for it, and someday return
23:55to society not bitter or boastful, but better for it.
23:59Because indeed, the act of murder is an evil act.
24:04But should the person who commits an evil act be treated as an evil person forever?
24:08I don't know, and I'm glad that I'm not the one that has to figure that out.
24:12What I do know is that the defendants have each pled guilty to the evil act of murdering
24:16a human being, and that they each must be held accountable, even after 28 years, and even
24:23though they have each apparently reformed.
24:26Should society ever compromise on murder?
24:28Is leniency appropriate in this case?
24:31Should the obsolete family, as well as the families of the defendants, be spared the ordeal
24:35of a lengthy and stressful trial?
24:37Should previous mishandlings of the case by certain prosecutors, and possibly certain defense
24:42lawyers, be left unscrutinized?
24:45Should the expense of it all on the taxpayers be avoided?
24:48What is justice for society, and for the victims, when it has been delayed for so many years?
24:54How can the defendants be punished for their ancient crime now, without having that punishment
24:59affect their innocent families as well?
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