The Queen of the S.L.A.?

For more than two days, they fought like a couple of pit dogs. There was the famed defense attorney, pacing and grimacing as he used all his wiles and powers of vituperation. Opposite him, in the witness chair, sat the prosecution's man, a tall, imperious figure with a shaved head, who gave every bit as good as he got. In its seventh week the trial of Patty Hearst turned into a sarcastic duel between F. Lee Bailey and Dr. Joel Fort, the quirky, combative witness for the prosecution. Doggedly, almost desperately, Bailey strove to discredit Fort, and for good reason. With the jurors out of the room, Bailey acknowledged that if the seven women and five men accepted what Fort had to say about Patty, "that would be the end of the case."

The clash between Bailey and Fort was inevitable. The two men have certain similarities--including enormous egos. Like Bailey, Fort is an author and lecturer; like Bailey, he has been criticized for his style and methods. In 1967 Fort was fired by the city of San Francisco as director of the Center for Special Problems because officials claimed he was incorrectly using funds to treat hippies with drug problems. In recent years, Fort has operated mental health and drug-treatment programs in the city. Fort also has been in quite a few courtrooms, appearing as a witness in some 270 trials, including those of Charles Manson and Timothy Leary.

Less Harsh. Preparing for last week's testimony, Fort spent 300 hours trying to learn all he could about Patty and the case--reading the mountain of documents, talking to her relatives and friends, and even spending an hour in one of the closets where she was held. For 15 hours he talked to Patty herself.

Questioned initially by U.S. Attorney James L. Browning Jr., Fort implied that Patty's treatment was a good deal less harsh than she or the defense psychiatrists described it. He stated, for example, that the closet where she spent her first four weeks was equipped with a foam mattress, a pillow and a reading light. After her blindfold was removed, she read S.L.A. tracts and Frantz Fanon's Wretched of the Earth, a required text for Third World revolutionaries.

Early on, Fort said, Patty had been attracted "to the purposes of the S.L.A." He attributed this reaction to her poor rapport with her family, a dissatisfaction with her life with Fiance Steven Weed, and a yearning for excitement. He estimated that she had willingly joined the S.L.A. about six weeks before the robbery of the Hibernia Bank branch in San Francisco on April 15, 1974.

On the day of the robbery, said Fort, Patty was suffering "no neurosis or mental disease." Contrary to the basic contention of the defense, he went on, Patty "did not perform the bank robbery because she was in fear of her life. She did it as a voluntary member of the S.L.A."

"Was she a soldier in an 'army of generals?' " asked Browning, echoing a phrase used by a defense witness.

"No, I think she was a queen in the army," responded Fort. As Fort spoke, Patty Hearst sat rigidly erect at the defense table, following every word, occasionally shaking her head in denial at the witness. Once, when Fort suggested she did not resist having sex with S.L.A. Member William Wolfe, she started to rise, apparently in anger; Bailey pressed her back down into her chair.

During his cross-examination Bailey sarcastically noted that in advance of his court appearance Fort had composed a four-page "antipress release," complete with biographical data, and had coupled it with a request for anonymity. "Your method of protecting your anonymity," Bailey asked incredulously, "was to send out twelve copies of this release to members of the press?" He also got Fort to acknowledge that he was not certified as a psychiatrist, although he had spent a one-year internship and a three-year residency in the field. Snapped Bailey: "I doubt he [Fort] has the ability to recognize a traumatic neurosis if he fell over one."

Bailey also brought out that Fort was being paid $50 an hour to work on the case--about standard for the Government--and that his bill would run to $12,500, which is high.

Bailey and Browning had hoped to wrap up their cases by week's end, but on Thursday the defendant came down with the flu. Wearing a surgical mask and running a slight fever (100.2DEG F.), she was taken for tests to a U.S. Public Health Service hospital. Judge Oliver J. Carter has told the weary jury members he hopes they will be able to withdraw into seclusion this weekend to pass judgment on Patty Hearst.

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