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LOS ANGELES — Sara Jane Olson’s lead attorney was ordered Monday to appear in court and explain why he should not be taken off the Symbionese Liberation Army attempted-bombing case for failing to prepare for trial. 

Superior Court Judge Cecil Mills issued the order when attorney J. Tony Serra failed to show up for a hearing on postponement of the trial. It was one of several hearings that Serra has missed since he joined Olson’s defense last spring. 

“He’s a great lawyer and so he has a busy trial calendar,” Serra’s co-counsel, Shawn Chapman, said outside court. “I think he’ll be able to come here and satisfy Judge Mills that he is able to prepare for the case.” 

The judge said he was told that Serra is in a trial in Placer County in Northern California and could not come to Los Angeles because the jury there was deliberating. 

He is expected to appear after the jury delivers a verdict in that case. 

The prosecutors said they received a call on Monday from a San Francisco prosecutor who was concerned because Serra has a trial beginning there on Jan. 3. 

Meanwhile, Mills granted a postponement of Olson’s trial from the originally scheduled date of Jan. 8 until April 10. He said that the trial would begin within 30 days after that. 

The judge also criticized Deputy District Attorneys Michael Latin and Eleanor Hunter for filing a strongly worded opposition to the continuance which he called “mean-spirited and hurtful in its authorship.”  

He said they had spent more time castigating the defense lawyers than talking about the case. 

Mills took over as interim judge when Superior Court Judge James Ideman was transferred to a suburban courthouse and opted not to take the Olson case with him. Ideman had presided over it since just after Olson’s arrest in June 1999. 

Olson, formerly known as Kathleen Soliah, had been a fugitive since her indictment in 1976. She had changed her name, married, had three children and became a volunteer for her church and other community causes in St. Paul, Minn. 

Olson is accused of trying to murder police officers by placing bombs under squad cars in 1975, allegedly as retaliation for the deaths of her friends in a 1974 Symbionese Liberation Army shootout with officers. The bombs did not go off. 

Since the case resurfaced, defense lawyers repeatedly bowed out for personal reasons, leading to postponements. The judge’s departure was the latest upheaval. 

Mills said the case will be assigned to Superior Court Judge Larry P. Fidler. But Fidler will spend the first three months of 2001 on temporary duty at an appeals court. 

After a meeting with Olson and Chapman, the judge agreed to continue public payment of Chapman and other lawyers to assist her in sifting through thousands of documents. 

Olson said in an affidavit that she and her husband, a doctor, liquidated their assets and mortgaged their house to put up some of the money for her $1 million bail and to hire private lawyers after arrest.  

The bulk of her bail was posted by friends and family. 

Olson said she has not received any money from the Sara Olson Defense Committee but it has paid some of her travel costs. 

“My husband and I have no savings account and no other assets which can be liquidated,” Olson’s declaration said. 

She said she will be using money now in a trust fund to pay Serra and costs for her and her husband to relocate to Los Angeles for the trial. 

The prosecutors said outside court they are concerned about delays because a number of witnesses are elderly and some have died. They said that 25 witnesses have died since the date of the crime and several are now ailing.