Emily Harris was, along with her husband William Harris, a member of the Symbionese Liberation Army, an American left-wing terrorist group involved in bank robberies, kidnapping and murder. In the 1970s, she was convicted of kidnapping Patty Hearst. In 2003, she was convicted of murder in the second degree for being the shooter in a 1975 slaying that occurred while she and other SLA members were robbing a bank in California. She was sentenced to eight years in prison for the murder.
Emily and Bill Harris took over the leadership of the SLA after six other SLA members died in a Los Angeles shootout with police and the house fire it triggered. After the fire, the Harrises spent over a year eluding the authorities with Hearst, and new members Kathleen Soliah, Josephine Soliah, Steven Soliah, Mike Bortin, Jim Kilgore, and Wendy Yoshimura. Hearst herself had since become a participant in SLA crimes. Yoshimura, Patty's closest friend while underground, was a fugitive for her involvement with explosives that were stored in a garage she rented. During that year the SLA committed a string of crimes, including an April 21, 1975, robbery of Crocker National Bank in Carmichael, California. During the robbery, 42-year-old Myrna Opsahl was shotgunned to death. Opsahl was depositing a church collection at the time. Hearst stated in her 1982 autobiography Every Secret Thing that Emily Harris was the shooter. Hearst stated that Harris said, "Oh, she's dead, but it doesn't really matter. She was a bourgeois pig anyway. Her husband is a doctor." Other SLA members had urged Harris not to bring the shotgun to the robbery, as it had accidentally discharged twice during preparations. The Harrises were eventually arrested and served eight years in prison for the Hearst kidnapping. Imprisoned at the California Institution for Women in Corona, California, Emily Harris spent the first half of her term in solitary confinement. Emily learned computer programming in prison.
After her release from prison in 1983, Harris became a computer programmer and began a successful computer consulting company. She worked at MGM Studios until her second conviction. She divorced her husband.
Opsahl murder charges
For over 25 years no one was charged in the Opsahl murder. The SLA wore wigs and masks during the Crocker Bank robbery, and left little evidence behind. However, with new forensics techniques, the FBI was eventually able to link shotgun pellets removed from Opsahl's body to shotgun shells found in an SLA hideout. Additional evidence mounted, and in January 2002 Harris and three other SLA members were charged with the Opsahl murder. Harris's bail was set at $1,000,000, which her supporters quickly gathered. Three former SLA members who had been granted immunity – Hearst, Steven Soliah, and Wendy Yoshimura – were set to testify for the prosecution in the Opsahl case. Facing a possible conviction, Harris and the others pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in November 2002. Emily Harris was sentenced to eight additional years in prison; Bill Harris was sentenced to seven years and Kathleen Soliah and Michael Bortin were each sentenced to six years for their roles. Emily Harris was paroled in February 2007 after having served four years in prison.
