# Without looking it up: Did Patty Hearst go free? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 17, 2014, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-looking-it-up-did-patty-hearst-go-free/701574 "2014-10-17T10:45:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-looking-it-up-did-patty-hearst-go-free/701574/21 "2014-10-18T17:56:22Z")
Just adding myself to the list of people who were going to post that she heard the burst of Roland’s Thompson gun and bought it. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-looking-it-up-did-patty-hearst-go-free/701574/22 "2014-10-18T18:09:26Z")
breaking rocks in the hot sun. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-looking-it-up-did-patty-hearst-go-free/701574/23 "2014-10-18T18:57:13Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > A certain amount of time must pass before a person can be pardoned of a felon[y]… The current rule is that you’re supposed to wait 5 years after release before officially applying for a presidential pardon, but the requirement can be waived in some cases. However, there are few limits on the president’s pardon powers, and can if he wishes pardon someone who is still in prison or who has never even applied for a pardon. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-looking-it-up-did-patty-hearst-go-free/701574/24 "2014-10-18T19:27:07Z")
> [@guizot](#): > > So obviously she went free. Why do you ask? Are there people who think she’s still in prison? Some people “remember” her being acquitted at trial. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-looking-it-up-did-patty-hearst-go-free/701574/25 "2014-10-18T20:28:26Z")
At the time, I thought her conviction was an even greater outrage than her having been prosecuted in the first place. I still do. ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-looking-it-up-did-patty-hearst-go-free/701574/26 "2014-10-18T20:56:10Z")
> [@handsomeharry](#): > > I know that this isn’t a debate, but, I think that the pic of her with a machine gun, and testimony (??) that she fired a machine gun at the one hold up is what got her convicted. Right or wrong, who knows? Cares? > ETA: Just read \*\*astorian’s \*\*post about her refusing to testify against the SLA. Slam dunk for the prosecution, in my book. Who knows is right. Maybe a better legal team would have kept that picture of her out of evidence, or put it in a more favorable context. Maybe a better legal team would have negotiated a no-time plea deal. Or convinced her to testify. Or done something differently. What I remember is discussing her trial with my high school classmates back then (many of whom believed that the kidnapping was staged, but what do a bunch of 17-year-old boys know?), and the older generation, the experienced and distinguished lawyers I knew then (and know now), saying that F. Lee Bailey (now disbarred, for reasons having nothing to do with the Hearst trial) was a grandstanding, egomaniacal, possibly alcoholic, incompetent buffoon, and that Patty Hearst would have been better served by a reasonably able public defender. I really don’t have any opinion of my own on whether or not Ms. Hearst should have been convicted. I’m not a lawyer. I know a bit more about law than most non-lawyers, by virtue of having grown up with lawyers and worked for law firms for around twenty years now. Which means I know enough to understand that I know absolutely nothing, which is a realization most non-lawyers never come to. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2014, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-looking-it-up-did-patty-hearst-go-free/701574/27 "2014-10-19T08:24:24Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > This was a case where family money and social status made a difference. If it weren’t for her family’s money and social status she wouldn’t have been kidnapped in the first place. I remember all the speculation and rumors at the time that she had been in on the kidnapping from the beginning. I never bought it. To me, it’s very easy to believe that a young woman could be brutalized to the point where she’d go along with whatever her captors told her. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2014, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-looking-it-up-did-patty-hearst-go-free/701574/28 "2014-10-19T22:43:44Z")
I thought it was so awesome when she showed up in **Cecil B. Demented.** ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-looking-it-up-did-patty-hearst-go-free/701574/29 "2014-10-20T03:31:23Z")
From what little I’ve read, I don’t think there’s any real scientific support for brainwashing or Stockholm syndrome. These days, the experts who testified on these topics might not even be allowed in front of the jury. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-looking-it-up-did-patty-hearst-go-free/701574.md?page=1)