Mother and daughter converse through a glass partition that prevents them from touching, so they do the best they can. When their visits are over, Catherine Hearst kisses her own hand and then presses it to the glass. On the other side of the prison barrier, Patty Hearst does the same.
Family friends contend that Patty is now very loving toward her parents; her harsh statements against them are either forgotten or overlooked. Still, the Hearsts are said to be alarmed by the way Patty's mind veers. "Sometimes she's real normal," a close source reports. "But she really is not in very good shape. Talking with her is like talking to a 15-year-old, with lapses back to three years of age." According to a defense attorney, Albert Johnson, "Her attention span is very limited. She does not have a realization of the enormity of the charges against her. Her thoughts are disjointed, disconnected. She thinks of the moment rather than the hour, the day or the future."
Who First? Patty's mental state remains the key issue before the courts. Last week Federal Judge Oliver Carter postponed until at least Oct. 22 the hearing to determine whether she should go free on $500,000 bail pending trial. The delay will give three psychiatrists and one psychologist appointed by the court more time to evaluate her stability. If Patty is found to be mentally incompetent, she could be confined to an institution indefinitely (see THE LAW).
If she is found competent to stand trial, the prosecutors will face another question: who should try her first? Patty has been indicted on one federal count of bank robbery—for her admitted participation in the robbery of a Hibernia Bank in San Francisco—and on eleven state charges of kidnaping, armed bank robbery and assault.
To discuss how to handle the many charges against Patty, 16 federal and state prosecutors, headed by U.S. Attorney James Browning, met in San Francisco. Browning's federal case will probably take precedence. But even after the trials already in the works are over, Patty's long day in court may not have ended. Agents and detectives are investigating evidence that may connect her, as well as her Symbionese Liberation Army companions, William and Emily Harris, to two more bank robberies, one at the Guild Savings & Loan Association in Sacramento on Feb. 25 and the other at the Crocker National Bank near Sacramento on April 21. Indeed, there were twelve bank robberies in the Sacramento area in the first six months of this year, and investigators are now taking a new look at them.
The two robberies for which Patty is under suspicion had one peculiar similarity. At the first, one of the two men who entered the building stood at the door and counted out the seconds to one minute, then yelled, "Let's get out of here!" At the second, a woman, who had a blue bandanna pulled over her face, stood by the door and counted off the time. She noted every 30 seconds until, at 1½ minutes, she began ticking off every second. At two minutes, she too yelled, "Let's get out of here!"