topic Re: THE PATRICIA HEARST CASE in Community Chat

THE PATRICIA HEARST CASE

Oznell — Wed, 03 Feb 2021 12:59:25 GMT

February 4 will mark the anniversary of the kidnapping of Patricia Hearst, occurring on February 4, 1974, by the Symbionese Liberation Army. Hearst, an heiress and granddaughter of William Randolph Hearst, was 19 years old at the time.

That abduction, her crime-spree time spent with her captors, and her trial and imprisonment, are a series of almost surrealistic events that, even now, make for the most fascinating reading.

Patricia Hearst has always maintained that she committed her acts under the worst duress, threat of rape, torture and of course, death. Even so, the public at the time was divided on the issue of her compliance with the murderous group that had kidnapped her. I could be wrong, but am thinking that an understanding of what has come to be known as "Stockholm syndrome" was furthered as a result of her experience.

Of course there were tons of books, including her own. In her mid-sixties now, she is relatively low-profile, publicly emerging every once in awhile, appearing in occasional documentaries and films, and at dog judging competitions and the like.

Do you remember the events, and did your perception of them and her, shift over time?

Re: THE PATRICIA HEARST CASE

NickNack — Wed, 03 Feb 2021 13:09:42 GMT

I always believed her and couldn't believe she was convicted. I thought her trial was awful.

Re: THE PATRICIA HEARST CASE

50Mickey — Wed, 03 Feb 2021 13:33:15 GMT

I remember the events well. I was glued to the TV everytime there was an update especially the day when members of the SLA died in the fire and the authorities were trying to determine if Patty Hearst was in the house. I read her book and the one written by her fiance at the time. I think his name was Stephen Weed.

She was 19 years old when she was violently kidnapped. She said that she was raped and threatened and I am sure that she did what she needed to do to stay alive.

Re: THE PATRICIA HEARST CASE

NicksmomESQ — Wed, 03 Feb 2021 14:07:53 GMT

I too followed the case closely,at the time.At first I believed she was kidnapped.As the case unfolded I changed my mind. JMO but I think she was a spoiled rich girl who rebelled against her stuffy parents. When she got caught her parents bought her a top notch defense in attorney F. Lee Bailey.

Fortunately, the jury didn't buy her story and she was convicted.I think her family's influence got her pardoned.

Re: THE PATRICIA HEARST CASE

GrailSeeker — Wed, 03 Feb 2021 14:15:09 GMT

I very well remember when it happened, too. I had just turned 19 myself the day before, so identified with Patty.

I remember discussing it at work and a co-worker, a young man who was 30, speculating that she was in on it herself. I could not believe that, but later it did appear that Patty was in on it.

Years later, I drew a mental connection to the JonBenet case- the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) and the SBTC "foreign faction", the very rich family, the press conferences, and "being in on it herself".

By 1996 the Patty Hearst case was no longer in much of the public's memory and I never heard any speculation from law enforcement that maybe the Ramsey case shared patterns connected to the Hearst case - though I do remember perhaps a reference to Patsy dressing for press conferences in much the same manner that Mrs. Hearst had, always in very good taste.

Re: THE PATRICIA HEARST CASE

mspatmac — Wed, 03 Feb 2021 15:50:00 GMT

I always believed her. @Oznell I also believe in today's world she would have been believed and never put on trial.

Re: THE PATRICIA HEARST CASE

beckyb1012 — Wed, 03 Feb 2021 16:05:55 GMT

I do remember, I was only 13 at the time but still had my memories also of Helter Skelter a few years earlier. I was terrified of what could happen to any of us at that time in our lives. Not to mention the war I paid attention to nightly on the news as well.

I never could pick a side about her involvement but I was very disappointed in her thinking she may have been lead astray at some point. The photo holding the gun did not help.

Re: THE PATRICIA HEARST CASE

ROMARY — Thu, 04 Feb 2021 22:59:36 GMT

All I can say is that kidnappers can be extremely cruel.

Anyone here watching the latest season of Happy Valley on PBS?

My gosh. Can't describe.

I encourage interested viewers to watch the particular season: (that is, the kidnapping of a young woman) from the beginning.

Don't skip the beginning episodes.

Re: THE PATRICIA HEARST CASE

GoneButNotForgotten — Wed, 03 Feb 2021 16:51:36 GMT

@NickNack wrote:
I always believed her and couldn't believe she was convicted. I thought her trial was awful.

Me too.

Re: THE PATRICIA HEARST CASE

GoneButNotForgotten — Wed, 03 Feb 2021 16:53:05 GMT

@NicksmomESQ wrote:
I too followed the case closely,at the time.At first I believed she was kidnapped.As the case unfolded I changed my mind. JMO but I think she was a spoiled rich girl who rebelled against her stuffy parents. When she got caught her parents bought her a top notch defense in attorney F. Lee Bailey.
Fortunately, the jury didn't buy her story and she was convicted.I think her family's influence got her pardoned.

Maybe being kept in a dark closet for 7 weeks and being repeatedly raped might change your mind.

Re: THE PATRICIA HEARST CASE

Sushismom — Wed, 03 Feb 2021 17:05:17 GMT

I was a senior in high school when this happened within a 45-mile radius of me.

I've never changed my opinion about her kidnapping. Nor do I think she was a "rich girl" trying to get even with her parents. I do think she was trying to stay alive, surrounded by people who would kill in an instant.

Re: THE PATRICIA HEARST CASE

beckyb1012 — Wed, 03 Feb 2021 17:06:33 GMT

I read she was held for one week in a closet but taken out for meals and threats of death daily. They reported she was down to 87 pounds and seemed a zombie when they arrested her. She suffered so much and for many months.

Re: THE PATRICIA HEARST CASE

patbz — Wed, 03 Feb 2021 17:59:34 GMT

The whole case reads like a novel; even down to the fact that she married her bodyguard and is still married to him, decades later. I believe her and think its a classic case of Stockholm Syndrome.

Re: THE PATRICIA HEARST CASE

Sushismom — Wed, 03 Feb 2021 18:09:20 GMT

@patbz Her husband died in 2013. They were married since 1979.

Re: THE PATRICIA HEARST CASE

NicksmomESQ — Wed, 03 Feb 2021 18:18:24 GMT

@GoneButNotForgotten wrote:
@NicksmomESQ wrote:
I too followed the case closely,at the time.At first I believed she was kidnapped.As the case unfolded I changed my mind. JMO but I think she was a spoiled rich girl who rebelled against her stuffy parents. When she got caught her parents bought her a top notch defense in attorney F. Lee Bailey.
Fortunately, the jury didn't buy her story and she was convicted.I think her family's influence got her pardoned.

Maybe being kept in a dark closet for 7 weeks and being repeatedly raped might change your mind.

That's not a very nice thing to say. I'm entitled to my opinion just like you are. Maybe I just don't believe her story.No need to make it personal.

Re: THE PATRICIA HEARST CASE

Lali1 — Wed, 03 Feb 2021 18:25:40 GMT

@NicksmomESQ wrote:
@GoneButNotForgotten wrote:
@NicksmomESQ wrote:
I too followed the case closely,at the time.At first I believed she was kidnapped.As the case unfolded I changed my mind. JMO but I think she was a spoiled rich girl who rebelled against her stuffy parents. When she got caught her parents bought her a top notch defense in attorney F. Lee Bailey.
Fortunately, the jury didn't buy her story and she was convicted.I think her family's influence got her pardoned.

Maybe being kept in a dark closet for 7 weeks and being repeatedly raped might change your mind.

That's not a very nice thing to say. I'm entitled to my opinion just like you are. Maybe I just don't believe her story.No need to make it personal.

We're all supposed to think the same way you should know this 😉 I was a child when this happened so I don't remember all the details of this story. I don't even remember what my mom believed about it. I believe either option is ok to believe, We do live in a free country still. Or maybe not.

Re: THE PATRICIA HEARST CASE

Imaoldhippie — Wed, 03 Feb 2021 18:34:05 GMT

@Oznell ...............If I remember correctly the term "Stockholm Syndrome" originated in Stockholm Sweden in 1973 where several employees were held hostage for a period of time, and they sided with the bank robber(s) and did not want them punished.

Something to that affect anyway. I dont remember exactly.

I think Patty soon figured out what she had to do to survive.

Re: THE PATRICIA HEARST CASE

Oznell — Wed, 03 Feb 2021 19:39:23 GMT

Right, thanks for that, @Imaoldhippie , I've been reading more, learning that that Stockholm incident happened not that long before the Hearst kidnapping, and that 'Stockholm syndrome' became more understood by the public after her situation.

In the Swedish case, the former hostages had so bonded with their captors, that they visited them in prison after they were freed...

It's also called by some other names, like 'hostage syndrome', I think. Some psychiatrists compared it to "shell shock" that some soldiers experience.

When you think of what this 19 year old was subjected to, 57 days in a locked closet, constant propagandizing and violent sexual assault and threats of death if she didn't comply and become part of the Symbionese Liberation Army, you can really understand her actions, I think. The hostage is first terrorized, becomes terrified for their life, and slowly starts to see the captor as their protector.... It's a self-preserving mechanism of the mind, I would gather.

When dissolute lawyer Jeffrey Toobin wrote a book about the incident that was to be made into a movie, Patricia Hearst castigated him. She quoted him as describing the kidnapping, unbelievably, as a "rollicking adventure". In an email to her, despite the fact that she had written her own lengthy book, he told her that he was "a high profile writer", so she should cooperate with his project, as it was likely to be considered "the last word" on the subject.

It's hard to get your head around all the many facets of this horrendous piece of (relatively) recent history.

Re: THE PATRICIA HEARST CASE

AZMattie — Thu, 04 Feb 2021 00:10:55 GMT

I was living in San Francisco during the trial. Each day there were a small number of seats available to the public on a first come first serve basis. A friend and I lined up in front of the courthouse at 4 in the morning and were able to be seated. It was fascinating. I remember watching Patty from the back of the courtroom. She seemed very thin and pale and was beautifully dressed. She did not speak but drank a lot of water. We wondered at the time if she had been medicated. That would certainly make sense after going through so much but that is complete supposition on my part.

A decade later I had a friend who rented the apartment where Patty had been held captive. He always referred to the closet as the "Patty Hearst" closet. That sounds so disrespectful now but didn't at the time.

I remember after the kidnapping her boyfiend that she was living with at the time Steven Weed was a suspect and treated very badly by the press.

I am just glad she has been able to move on and live a seemingly quiet life.

Re: THE PATRICIA HEARST CASE

Oznell — Thu, 04 Feb 2021 00:46:14 GMT

Wow, @AZMattie -- how fascinating to hear from someone who was actually able to attend the trial, having a ringside seat to history! Thank you so much for sharing your impressions.

I thought Dr. Todd Grande had some interesting thoughts on both the forensic background, and psychological aspects of the case. While his impressions may not be definitive, they do sketch in a little more detail. In case anyone might be interested, here's a short video by him:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMbDGjtEllk