"I'm outraged by what happened," Sara Jane Olson said. "They're trying to take away my freedom forever and destroy me and destroy my family."

Authorities are prosecuting Olson on charges of planting pipe bombs under Los Angeles police cars in 1974. The bombs did not explode.

Olson, who has avoided making statements since her arrest in June 1999, said she felt forced to respond now.

"I didn't want to have a political case," she said. "But it has been politicized by the Los Angeles Police Department and the district attorney."

Prosecutor Michael Latin acknowledged that Olson, formerly known as Kathleen Soliah, was not involved in the SLA's most notorious action — the kidnapping of newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst. But he said her knowledge of that and other crimes, and her agreement with the actions of her predecessors, make the acts admissible.

Hearst is slated as a key prosecution witness.

Prosecutors also are trying to link Olson to a Sacramento-area bank robbery in which a mother of four was shot to death. Los Angeles prosecutors have urged Sacramento authorities to reinvestigate that case.

"I was not in Los Angeles. I did not place those bombs under those cars," Olson said. "I was not in the Carmichael Bank in Sacramento. I am innocent."

Olson's lawyer pleaded with a judge Friday to exclude evidence about SLA crimes with which Olson is not charged — including the murder of a schools superintendent and the bank robbery.

Although not charged with either crime, prosecutors argued that her role as an SLA member made her part of the group's overall conspiracies. Defense lawyers say the evidence is prejudicial and will lengthen the trial.

Another hearing is scheduled for March 30.