LOS ANGELES — The judge in Sara Jane Olson's bombing trial refused Thursday to label the 1970s radical group the Symbionese Liberation Army a "terrorist organization."

Judge Larry Fidler said prosecutors, who sought the designation to strengthen their positions in several pretrial evidence battles, had not shown enough evidence that the SLA was prone to violence and posed a public safety threat.

"I don't believe the people have persuaded me," Fidler said.

The judge, however, cautioned the defense, which had fought the label, that his ruling might actually hurt Olson, an SLA associate facing life in prison for allegedly plotting to bomb police cars in 1975.

Her lawyers had accused the prosecution of trying to taint a jury pool shaken by the September 11 attacks by getting the judge to sign off on a terrorism designation. But without the broad term, the judge said, the prosecutors are likely to delve into SLA crimes — which include two murders, numerous bank robberies and the high-profile kidnapping of newspaper heiress Patty Hearst. Bringing up those details before a jury is selected "may have some subliminal prejudicial effect," the judge said.

"You may wish to reconsider your opposition," Fidler told defense lawyer Shawn Snider Chapman.

But outside court, Chapman said she would take the ruling as a victory.

"They went too far and the judge saw that," said Chapman of prosecutors Michael Latin and Eleanor Hunter.

On Wednesday, the prosecutors plan to call FBI agents and police officers to testify that 1975 searches of apartments, a car and a mailbox linked to the SLA were justified because of the public safety threat posed by the group.

"The whole question is the legality of the police officers' actions — busting into houses without a search warrant," said Chapman. "A couple of them didn't know anything about the SLA at all."

She said prosecutors did not need to go into the SLA history at next week's hearings because Fidler, who at 54 is the same age as Olson, "was around during that time" and familiar with the group's history.

Fidler denied two other defense motions Thursday, refusing to hold hearings into the reliability of handwriting analysis and fingerprint analysis. The judge also told Chapman that pretrial motions must continue despite the absence of defense attorney J. Tony Serra, who is waylaid at another trial in Modesto.

Olson, born Kathleen Soliah, spent 24 years on the run from the Los Angeles charges. She married a doctor in Minnesota and was known there as an accomplished amateur actress and community activist.

Finishing her second week of pretrial hearings, Olson appeared increasingly comfortable in court. During a brief recess, she leaned over the court rail, talking to her husband, Dr. Fred Peterson, and hugging daughters Emily and Leila in the front row. Leila Peterson celebrated her 15th birthday Wednesday night with a party thrown by Olson supporters in Los Angeles.