LOS ANGELES (Court TV) — Sara Jane Olson, the '70s radical fugitive who remade herself as a Minnesota soccer mom during 24 years on the run, struck a last-minute deal with prosecutors Wednesday and pleaded guilty to attempting to bomb police cars.

The 54-year-old later said she felt forced to negotiate a deal because of the political climate created by the September 11 attacks. Under the deal, reached as pretrial motions entered a third week, Olson could serve as little as five years and as much as a life sentence. In exchange, prosecutors dropped a murder conspiracy charge that carried a mandatory life term and agreed not to object to Olson serving her time in Minnesota, rather than California.

Olson, who had maintained her innocence and been hailed by left-wing supporters as a political prisoner, remained defiant even after telling Judge Larry Fidler she was guilty of two counts of attempted explosion of a destructive device with intent to murder.

Surrounded by her husband, mother and one of her daughters, she emerged from the courtroom and declared that she was actually innocent of the charges and was only pleading guilty because the September 11 events made it impossible to get a fair trial. Jurors, she said, would link her association with the Symbionese Liberation Army, the violent counterculture group that kidnapped heiress Patty Hearst, to the current terrorist threat.

"I had to accept the uncertainty of a jury verdict," said Olson, wrapping her arms around her elderly mother, Elsie Soliah. "I pleaded guilty to something of which I am not guilty."

Her lawyers said serious negotiations began Friday, the week after Fidler refused to grant a continuance because of the terror attacks. Her lawyer, J. Tony Serra, added, "Justice weeps for Sara Jane Olson. She is truly a victim of September 11."

Prosecutors Eleanor Hunter and Michael Latin, however, ridiculed that explanation and said it was the strength of their case that persuaded her to seek a plea.

"The suggestion that we could somehow ride the wave of terror that happened in New York is really an insult to jurors. Jurors are smart and we had overwhelming evidence. She knew that," said Latin.

With her plea, Olson admitted placing pipe bombs under police cruisers in August 1975. The bombs did not detonate and no one was injured. Prosecutors contend they were revenge for the deaths of six SLA members in a 1974 shootout with police.

Prosecutors planned to rely heavily on testimony from Hearst at the trial, but in a press conference after Olson's plea, they displayed other evidence. Latin showed off an FBI replica of the pipe bombs, which Hunter described as the largest such bombs in U.S. history. Each contained 144 concrete nails and gun powder, and the prosecutors said if they had detonated they would have ripped through the 1973 Matador cruisers, killing the officers inside and bystanders.

"She tried to kill people with a bomb. She could have killed many people," said Hunter. "Obviously she's either lying in court or lying to the press to try to save face."

Olson will be formally sentenced December 7, but prosecutors and defense lawyers will not really battle over how much time Olson spends in prison until early next year. Because of changes in the sentencing laws since the crime, a Board of Prisons panel could extend the five-year sentence to a life term if they determine Olson is a serious offender. Defense lawyer Shawn Snider Chapman said she believes the board will not do so, but prosecutors said Olson's declaration of innocence after the plea may lead them to press for a life term.

"Did you see any remorse from her? The answer is no," said Hunter.

The decision to plead guilty was clearly devastating to Olson's family and supporters. Advocates from Minneapolis raised her $1 million bail in a week by putting up their homes and retirement funds as collateral. Some of them, wearing pins that read, "Sara Olson Defense Committee" and "Fairness," wiped away tears as they left court. Her 19-year-old daughter, Sophie, sobbed and fell into her father's arms.

"It's been a long day," she told her grandmother.

"It's just been an awful day," Elsie Soliah replied.

Olson's two other daughters, Emily, 21, and Leila, 15, were not in court.

Her husband of two decades, Dr. Gerald "Fred" Peterson, seemed shaken.

"I'm proud of my wife. I stand by my wife like a dedicated husband should," said the bearded, bespectacled emergency room physician.

Olson, in fact, seemed most poised. A talented amateur actress in Minneapolis, she addressed the court in a strong and unwavering voice and even corrected Hunter on the pronunciation of her birth name, Kathleen Soliah.

Olson was a community activist in Minnesota, organizing a progressive bookstore, campaigning for liberal candidates, opposing apartheid and violence in Central America and even reading to the blind. With her family and supporters in tears Wednesday, she said she planned to make the best of jail by getting to know other female prisoners and perhaps later speaking about their plight.

"I hope it will be an educational experience for me," she said. "I don't expect it to be a good diet."

Chapman said that it was links to the SLA that ultimately doomed Olson's chances of acquittal. Prosecutors convinced Fidler to expand the scope of the trial and include weeks of testimony about other SLA crimes, including the Hearst kidnapping, bank robberies and two murders. The trial was to last six to nine months.

"That changed everything. Before that it would have been a three-week trial and they would have lost," said Chapman.

Olson refused to discuss her feelings on the SLA, calling the matter "private" but added, "I'm still the same person I was then. I believe in democracy for all people and all the things that entails. And I don't have any regrets."

While the Los Angeles case is closed, Olson and other former SLA associates still face potential murder charges stemming from the slaying of a customer during a bank robbery. No one has ever been convicted in the death of Myrna Opsahl, a mother of four, in Sacramento in 1975. The district attorney there maintains there is not enough evidence to prosecute the case, but Opsahl's son, Jon, hopes to press them to move forward against Olson and others.

"The plea of guilty today was just another attempt to run and hide from the whole truth," he said. "This is not over."