Kilgore to plead guilty - lawyer
2003-02-11 08:33
San Francisco - Former Symbionese Liberation Army member James Kilgore, who was recently extradited from South Africa after more than two decades on the run, is expected to plead guilty later this month to federal explosive and forgery charges, his lawyer said on Monday.
Kilgore, 55, once a member of the radical group that kidnapped heiress Patricia Hearst in 1974, faces federal charges of possessing a pipe bomb and using a false name to obtain a passport.
His lawyer Gregor Guy-Smith said there is no plea agreement or deal for a reduced sentence. Kilgore faces up to 10 years in prison for the bomb charge and five for the other offence.
"We plan on resolving the case on the 21st (of February)," Guy-Smith said. "There is no plea agreement."
The former fugitive, who worked as a university professor in Cape Town, under an assumed name, also faces state charges for a 1975 SLA bank robbery that resulted in the killing of an innocent customer.
Kilgore, who decided not to fight extradition to the United States, was seized in November one day after four ex-members of the SLA pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the shooting death of the 42-year-old woman as they robbed a California bank.
Their plea was part of a deal that called for jail terms of six to eight years, sparing them a murder trial that could have meant life in prison.