Manson: The Life and Times of Charles Manson Hardcover (56 page)

Nixon’s press secretary announced that the media had twisted the president’s remarks.
But Charlie got the last word. When he was brought into court on August 5 he waved a handprinted sign that read, “NIXON GUILTY.” The bailiffs yanked it away from him, but they were laughing as they did. They had to hand it to Charlie. Whatever else might be true about this guy, he had a sense of humor.

Irving Kanarek questioned Linda for an entire week. At one point he waved pictures of the slaughtered Cielo victims in front of her. It was obvious to everyone but Kanarek that the jury was as horrified to see them as Linda—he was reinforcing the prosecution’s point that the murders were especially horrible. Charlie yelled at him to stop. When Kanarek finally wound down, Daye Shinn took a turn for the defense and asked Linda if she believed in Santa Claus. At the L-shaped defense table in front of the judge and witness stand, Susan, Leslie, and Pat yawned and made it clear that they were bored.
Fitzgerald asked Older if it would be all right to give them some colored pencils and blank paper. The three young women doodled happily while their former friend gave testimony that could cost them their lives.

On the morning of August 12,
Charlie refused to leave his cell for the courtroom and had to be carried there by the bailiffs. Dragged in front of Older in the judge’s chambers, Charlie said that he refused to walk in protest of his treatment in the Hall of Justice jail. People lined up to peer in his cell, Charlie complained: “They even bring their sons in on the weekends to take a look at the freak.” He griped about the frequency of body searches, and how he was no longer allowed to make outside calls. Older wasn’t sympathetic, and Charlie remained uncooperative in court for the next several days. The bailiffs had to regularly remove him to the mouse house. Each time, one bailiff had to remain in there with him. The moment that the door locked behind him, Charlie always calmed down.
He’d cadge a smoke and often would practice his next “spontaneous” outburst. Sometimes he’d brag about how well Susan, Leslie, and Pat were minding him. Charlie never seemed concerned about the prospect of the death penalty, though he told the bailiffs he was being railroaded. He even joked with them about it. When Skupen asked, “Charlie, when they send you to the gas chamber, will you invite me?” Charlie grinned and replied, “Sure, I’ll invite you.”

On August 13,
Judge Older formally granted Linda immunity in return for her testimony. Charlie marked the occasion by passing her a letter. He wrote, “Love can never stop if it’s love. . . . If you were not saying what your saying there would be no tryle. Don’t lose your love it’s only there for you.” He cautioned her, “Don’t let anyone have this or they will find a way to use it against me.”

Linda gave the letter to Bugliosi. Kanarek claimed that she stole it from Charlie.

Linda’s testimony was convincing but not perfect. Before she was finally allowed to step down on August 19, she admitted stealing $5,000 for the Family from Charles Melton, and revealed to the jury how she’d left her toddler daughter behind at Spahn Ranch when she fled to save her own life. But Stovitz and Bugliosi were pleased that during her time on the witness stand, she never made a statement inconsistent with what she’d told the prosecution prior to the trial. Since she was free to go wherever she liked, Linda left L.A. to join her mother and two children in New Hampshire. Kanarek warned that he might recall her to the stand at any time.

•  •  •

The prosecution lost four witnesses. Randy Starr, the movie stuntman Charlie beat up in front of Terry Melcher, died. Bugliosi was suspicious and ordered an autopsy, which indicated Starr died of natural causes. Linda Kasabian’s estranged husband, Robert, and Charles Melton, his hippie philanthropist friend, got tired of waiting to be called to the stand and left for Hawaii. Their attorney informed Bugliosi that they had taken refuge on a small uncharted island and there was no way to contact them. Lebanese actor Saladin Nader dropped out of sight, and the LAPD couldn’t find him. But Stovitz and Bugliosi felt
these losses were more than offset by Juan Flynn’s decision to take the stand. The testy Spahn ranch hand initially refused to cooperate with prosecutors. But when Family members began threatening him to make certain he wouldn’t change his mind and testify, Flynn decided to defy them. Stovitz and Bugliosi had Flynn initially questioned on August 18 by Sgt. Philip Sartuchi of the LaBianca investigation team. Sartuchi greeted the prosecutors with great news as they left court for the day. Flynn said Charlie personally told him that “I’m the one” who committed the Tate-LaBianca murders, and that prior to that, sometime in June or July 1969, Charlie said, “Well, I have to come down to it. The only way to get Helter Skelter going is for me to go down there and show the black man how to do it, by killing a whole bunch of those fucking pigs.” Further, Flynn remembered Susan Atkins telling him one night in August, “We’re going to get some fucking pigs.” Flynn thought it was the night when the LaBiancas were murdered.

After speaking to Sartuchi, Flynn went into hiding. He periodically called Bugliosi to assure him that he was still willing to testify. In the meantime, he didn’t want Charlie or anyone in the Family to know where to find him.

•  •  •

Despite the antics of the defendants, the trial was going well for the prosecution. Stovitz and Bugliosi followed Linda with a series of witnesses—John Swartz, various residents of the Cielo neighborhood, Rudolf Weber—who collectively supported Linda’s testimony. Detective Michael McGann testified about the large amount of drugs investigators found at Cielo;
Stovitz and Bugliosi wanted that on the record before the defense
could introduce it as evidence that the killings might have been drug-related. When the defense had no questions for Deputy Medical Examiner David Katsuyama, whose vagueness on the witness stand frustrated the prosecutors and, they feared, provided exceptional cross-examination opportunities for their opponents, Stovitz and Bugliosi believed that they were on their way to victory. Even Charlie seemed dejected. During one break when the jury was out of the courtroom, he confided to Judge Older,
“We did pretty good at the first of it . . . we kind of lost control when the testimony started.”

Then Susan Atkins claimed that she had a stomachache.

Susan began fidgeting at the defense table while Katsuyama testified about the depth of the wounds suffered by the LaBiancas. She complained of stomach pains, and her histrionic moaning distracted everyone. At the judge’s order, Susan was examined and diagnosed with an impacted colon. After being treated with laxatives and enemas, she was cleared to return to court, where she pleaded with Older to let her leave again because she was still in so much pain. The doctor who treated Susan told the judge that she was fine; either she was now experiencing “sympathy pains” or else faking. Older dismissed Susan’s complaints and the trial resumed. Afterward, a reporter asked Stovitz his opinion of Susan’s alleged illness. Stovitz, hurrying away, snapped, “It was a performance worthy of Sarah Bernhardt.” The next day District Attorney Younger, Stovitz’s boss, removed him from the case for violating instructions not to make statements to the media. Stovitz and Bugliosi protested—it was a passing remark, not an interview, and, besides, they were working well together. Younger wouldn’t budge: Stovitz was off the case. Bugliosi was now in charge, and he would be assisted by Deputy District Attorney Stephen Kay. Unlike Stovitz-Bugliosi, Bugliosi-Kay was not an equal partnership. They were in mid-trial and
there was no time for Kay to study transcripts and get up to speed. Bugliosi told him that “Helter Skelter is the theory, period,” and coached his new trial colleague on courtroom behavior. For instance, Kay must never refer to notes when the jurors were present, because that meant breaking off eye contact with them. Kay didn’t warm to Bugliosi personally—the guy was so unabashedly
ambitious
—but he was awed by his work ethic. During the time he prosecuted the Tate-LaBianca
murders with Bugliosi, Kay never knew him to sleep more than three or four hours a night.

Kay also formed strong immediate impressions of the four defendants. Charlie was a mastermind, always waiting for any opportunity to disrupt trial proceedings and thinking three or four steps ahead. Susan Atkins was scary; clearly, she was eager to do whatever Charlie wanted. Kay thought Pat Krenwinkel was cold and unfeeling. Leslie Van Houten troubled the young prosecutor. She was so smart, and yet she’d fallen in with the Family. The prosecution and defense sat side by side, and Kay was next to Leslie. They talked during breaks, and had an extended debate about the death penalty. Kay thought it was a deterrent and Leslie didn’t. Though they disagreed, he was impressed with her arguments. Kay couldn’t get over it: He and a Manson girl were having a rational conversation.

•  •  •

In the months since she’d returned to live with her mother, Barbara Hoyt was inundated with phone calls from Squeaky and Sandy. They pleaded with her to be loyal to Charlie and the Family and not cooperate with the prosecutors. Barbara was torn. On September 5, her former friends offered a deal. If Barbara wouldn’t testify, they’d treat her to a trip to Hawaii. She accepted, and the next day Barbara and Ruth Ann flew to Honolulu. They mostly stayed in their hotel room and had long talks. After a few days Ruth Ann said that she had to go back to L.A., but Barbara could stay on in Hawaii a while longer. They went to the airport, where, just before her flight was called, Ruth Ann bought Barbara a hamburger. As Barbara was swallowing the last few bites, Ruth Ann said, “Just imagine if there were ten tabs of acid in that,” an amount far beyond any normal dose. Ruth Ann boarded her plane; soon afterward Barbara collapsed. Just before she lost consciousness, she begged a man standing over her to call “Mr. Bugliosi.” After emergency treatment for drug overdose, Barbara was able to return to the mainland. Now she was determined to testify against Charlie. Bugliosi, furious, told the LAPD that he wanted any Family members involved to be charged with attempted murder. Ruth Ann, Squeaky, Gypsy, Clem, and Dennis Rice (whose credit card had funded the plane tickets) were all arraigned but not indicted until December 18.
Until then, they remained free and at Charlie’s command. Rice visited Charlie regularly, carrying his latest orders back to the rest of the Family.

On September 11,
Tex Watson was finally extradited to California. During his extended time at the Collin County jail in Texas, he’d received dozens of letters from Squeaky and Gypsy urging him to stay strong and loyal to Charlie. When Tex made a brief appearance in Judge Older’s court (Paul Fitzgerald wanted him to be formally identified to the jury), he wore a blue blazer, gray slacks, and had close-cropped hair. Bugliosi thought he looked like “a typical clean-cut college kid.” If the defense hoped to convince the jury that Tex rather than Charlie masterminded the Tate-LaBianca slayings, Bugliosi believed that Tex’s conservative appearance would make it much harder.

The
Los Angeles Times
noted that Tex “exchanged smiles” with Susan, Pat, and Leslie. He made no statements in court or to the media. Irving Kanarek objected to Tex’s presence in the courtroom and demanded a mistrial. After his brief appearance, Tex was jailed until his September 28 arraignment.

The Weathermen broke Timothy Leary out of federal prison in San Luis Obispo, where he was serving a ten-year sentence for drug possession. It was a plot involving considerable daring and risk—the fifty-year-old acid guru had to climb the prison wall, clamber hand-over-hand along a two-hundred-foot live electrical wire, and then make a steep drop down to the ground. After releasing a defiant declaration that “at this time let us have no more talk of peace. . . . Listen, Americans, your government is an instrument of total, lethal evil,” Leary fled to Algeria, appearing at a press conference there with former Black Panther Eldridge Cleaver, himself on the run from U.S. law. (Leary would be recaptured three years later in Afghanistan, by which time he was glad to identify everyone who helped engineer his San Luis Obispo escape, and to serve out a reduced three-year sentence.)

The Family didn’t care about Timothy Leary—Charlie was their only hero—but the details of his breakout were inspirational. Clearly, prisons weren’t impregnable. It was something for them to think about if Charlie was convicted.

Beginning on Wednesday, September 16,
pedestrians on the sidewalk
outside the downtown L.A. Hall of Justice had to step around people sitting there. The corner of Spring and Temple became unofficial Family headquarters. Four or five members would arrive every morning before Older convened court on the eighth floor and stay until proceedings ended for the day. Then they’d either get rides back to Spahn or else huddle for the night in an old van parked nearby. Though Clem and a few other males occasionally joined them, the sidewalk sitters were mostly women, Squeaky and Sandy every day and usually Ruth Ann, though she was in an advanced stage of pregnancy. Other than being in the way, they didn’t bother passersby. They smiled and chatted with anyone who stopped to speak to them, emphasizing that Charlie was all about love. Besides the Xs permanently cut into their foreheads, the women didn’t seem menacing. Sometimes they amused themselves with games of patty-cake, and when they stood up to stretch their legs they waved at cars. People brought them cookies and other treats, and they gladly posed for pictures.

But Bugliosi and Kay didn’t find them goofily charming. One evening when Bugliosi left the Hall of Justice,
Sandy stood up and followed him, fingering a knife. Bugliosi called her a “God damn bitch” and she backed away. Another time,
Sandy and Squeaky approached Kay and his wife in a parking lot and hissed that they would do at the Kay house what had been done at Sharon Tate’s. Then they smiled and walked away. Kay had a brief history with Sandy. When he was fifteen and she fourteen, they were set up on a blind date. They had lunch with their mothers at a pancake house in Burbank. Stephen left before the meal was finished because he thought Sandy was “a little stuck-up snob.”