Patty Hearst Arrested: Kidnapped Heiress Found
The FBI arrested Patty Hearst in a San Francisco apartment on September 18, 1975, nineteen months after the Symbionese Liberation Army kidnapped the 19-year-old newspaper heiress from her Berkeley apartment. During her captivity, Hearst adopted the name "Tania" and participated in armed bank robberies, including a notorious holdup at the Hibernia Bank captured on security cameras. Her defense attorney, F. Lee Bailey, argued she had been brainwashed through isolation, sexual assault, and sensory deprivation. The jury didn't buy it: she was convicted of bank robbery and sentenced to seven years. President Carter commuted her sentence after 22 months, and President Clinton granted a full pardon in 2001. Her case remains the landmark example of disputed criminal responsibility under coercion.
September 18, 1975
51 years ago
Key Figures & Places
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