In Re Olson

Respondent Sara Jane Olson, previously known as Kathleen Soliah, committed two 1975 Los Angeles felony destructive device or explosive offenses punishable under the indeterminate sentence law (ISL). In 1999, she was apprehended, and in 2001 and 2003, she pled guilty to these offenses and to an additional offense, a 1975 Sacramento County second degree murder. She was committed to state prison for the three offenses for the terms prescribed by law. Presently, she is imprisoned in the custody of James E. Tilton, the Secretary of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Penal Code section 1170.2 authorizes the Board of Prison Terms (the Board) to translate a prisoner’s ISL term into a retroactive term under the Uniform Determinate Sentencing Law of 1976 (DSL) to afford the prisoner an earlier release where the expiration of the DSL term occurs earlier than the prisoner’s ISL parole release date. (See In re Greenwood (1978) 87 Cal.App.3d 777, 783-784 [ 151 Cal.Rptr. 223 ].) Initially, the Board calculated Olson’s DSL term for her Los Angeles convictions under section 1170.2, subdivision (a). Shortly thereafter, the Board gave Olson timely notice it…