Hearst, Patty /hɜːst $ hɜːrst/ BrE AmE
(1954–) an American woman who is the ↑ granddaughter of William Randolph Hearst and who was ↑ kidnap ped in February 1974 by a ↑ left-wing group called the SLA (=Symbionese Liberation Army). While she was being held prisoner by the group, she began to support the aims of the SLA and in April 1974 she was photographed helping the group to rob a bank. She was ↑ arrest ed and sent to prison despite claiming at her ↑ trial that she had been forced to help the group. In 1979, President Jimmy Carter ordered that she should be allowed to leave prison. Since then, she has appeared in films and written a book about her experiences.