Editing Charles Manson (section)

==1969–1971: Crimes and trial==
{{See also|Tate–LaBianca murders|Manson Family#Crimes}}
=== Crowe shooting ===
Tex Watson became involved in [[drug dealing]]<ref name="Waxman"/> and robbed a 22-year-old rival named Bernard "Lotsapoppa" Crowe. Crowe allegedly responded with a threat to kill everyone at Spahn Ranch. In response, Manson shot Crowe on July 1, 1969, at Manson's Hollywood apartment.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|91–96,99–113}}<ref name="Sanders"/>{{rp|147–149}}<ref name="watson12">{{Cite book|title=Will You Die For Me?|last=Watson|first=Charles|date=1978|publisher=F.H. Revell|isbn=0800709128}}</ref> Manson's belief that he had killed Crowe was seemingly confirmed by a news report of the discovery of the dumped body of a [[Black Panther Party|Black Panther]] in Los Angeles.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Waxman |first=Olivia B. |date=2019-07-26 |title=Why Did the Manson Family Kill Sharon Tate? Here's the Story Charles Manson Told the Last Man Who Interviewed Him |url=https://time.com/5633973/last-manson-interview/ |access-date=2025-04-25 |magazine=TIME |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-03-16 |title=Down the Manson Rabbit Hole |url=https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/down-the-manson-rabbit-hole/ |access-date=2025-04-25 |website=Los Angeles Review of Books}}</ref>

Although Crowe was not a member of the Black Panthers, Manson concluded he had been and expected retaliation from the Panthers. He turned Spahn Ranch into a defensive camp, establishing night patrols by armed guards.<ref name="watson12"/><ref name="Sanders"/>{{rp|151}} Watson would later write, "Blackie was trying to get at the chosen ones."<ref name="watson12"/> Manson brought in members of the Straight Satans Motorcycle Club to act as security.<ref name="Waxman">{{cite web|last=Waxman|first=Olivia B.|url=https://time.com/5633973/last-manson-interview/|title=Why Did the Manson Family Kill Sharon Tate? Here's the Story Charles Manson Told the Last Man Who Interviewed Him|work=[[Time magazine]]|date=July 26, 2019|access-date=March 5, 2022|archive-date=September 24, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200924061655/https://time.com/5633973/last-manson-interview/|url-status=live}}</ref>
{{clear}}

=== Hinman murder ===
34-year-old Gary Alan Hinman, a music teacher and graduate student at [[UCLA]], had previously befriended members of the Family and allowed some to occasionally stay at his home in Topanga Canyon. According to Atkins, Manson believed Hinman was wealthy and sent her, Brunner, and Beausoleil to Hinman's home to convince him to join the Family and turn over the assets Manson thought Hinman had inherited.<ref name="bugliosi"/>{{Rp|75–77}}<ref name="watson12"/><ref name="atkins">{{cite book|title=Child of Satan, Child of God|publisher=Plainfield, NJ: Logos International | year=1977 | isbn=0-88270-276-9 | pages=94–120 | last1=Atkins|first1= Susan|last2= Slosser|first2= Bob}}</ref> The three held Hinman hostage for two days in late July 1969, as he denied having any money. During this time, Manson arrived with a sword and slashed his face and ear. After that, Beausoleil stabbed Hinman to death, allegedly on Manson's instruction. Before leaving the residence, Beausoleil or one of the women used Hinman's blood to write "political piggy"<!--"Piggy", not "Piggie"; photo is in Bugliosi 1994, between pages 142 and 143--> on the wall and to draw a panther paw, a Black Panther symbol.<ref name="bugliosi"/>{{Rp|33, 91–96, 99–113}}<ref name="Sanders"/>{{rp|184}}

According to Beausoleil,<ref name="seconds">{{cite web|work=beausoleil.net|url=http://www.beausoleil.net/mminterview.html|title=Beausoleil ''Seconds'' interviews|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070607180026/http://www.beausoleil.net/mminterview.html|archive-date=June 7, 2007}}</ref> he came to Hinman's house to recover money paid to Hinman for [[mescaline]] provided to the Straight Satans that had supposedly been bad.<ref name="Waxman"/> Beausoleil added that Brunner and Atkins, unaware of his intent, went along to visit Hinman. Atkins, in her 1977 autobiography, wrote that Manson directed Beausoleil, Brunner and her to go to Hinman's and get the supposed inheritance of $21,000. She said that two days earlier Manson had told her privately that, if she wanted to "do something important", she could kill Hinman and get his money.<ref name="atkins"/> Beausoleil was arrested on August 6, 1969, after he was caught driving Hinman's car. Police found the murder weapon in the tire well.<ref name="bugliosi"/>{{Rp|28–38}}
{{clear}}

===Tate murders===
On the night of August 8, 1969, Watson took Atkins, Krenwinkel and [[Linda Kasabian]] to 10050 Cielo Drive. Watson later claimed that Manson had instructed him to go to the house and "totally destroy" everyone in it, and to do it "as gruesome as you can".<ref name="bugliosi">Bugliosi, Vincent with Gentry, Curt. ''Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders 25th Anniversary Edition'', W. W. Norton & Company, 1994. {{ISBN|0-393-08700-X}}. {{oclc|15164618}}.</ref>{{rp|463–468}}<ref name="watson14">{{cite web |url=http://www.aboundinglove.org/sensational/wydfm/wydfm-014.php |title=Watson, Ch. 14 |publisher=Aboundinglove.org |access-date=November 28, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101119075221/http://aboundinglove.org/sensational/wydfm/wydfm-014.php |archive-date=November 19, 2010}}</ref> Manson told the women to do as Watson instructed them.<ref name="bugliosi"/>{{rp|176–184, 258–269}}

The occupants of the Cielo Drive house that evening were Tate, aged 26, who was 8{{fraction|1|2}} months pregnant; her friend and former lover 35-year-old [[Jay Sebring]], a noted celebrity hairstylist; Polanski's friend 32-year-old Wojciech Frykowski; and Frykowski's 25-year-old girlfriend Abigail Anne Folger, heiress to the [[Folgers]] coffee fortune and daughter of [[Peter Folger]].<ref name="bugliosi"/>{{rp|28–38}} Also present on the property were 19-year-old caretaker William Garretson and his friend, 18-year-old Steven Earl Parent. Polanski was in Europe working on a film. Music producer [[Quincy Jones]] was a friend of Sebring who had planned to join him that evening before changing his mind.<ref>{{cite magazine  |url=https://www.gq.com/story/quincy-jones-has-a-story |title=Quincy Jones Has a Story About That |magazine=GQ |access-date=October 18, 2022}}</ref>

Watson and the three women arrived at Cielo Drive just past midnight on August 9. Watson climbed a telephone pole near the entrance gate and cut the phone line to the house.<ref name="watson9">{{cite web |work=aboundinglove.org |url=http://www.aboundinglove.org/sensational/wydfm/wydfm-009.php |author=Watson, Charles as told to Ray Hoekstra |title=Will You Die for Me? |access-date=May 3, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070405004745/http://aboundinglove.org/sensational/wydfm/wydfm-009.php |archive-date=April 5, 2007}}</ref> The group then backed their car to the bottom of the hill that led to the estate before walking back up to the house. Thinking that the gate might be electrified or equipped with an alarm, they climbed a brushy embankment to the right of the gate and entered the grounds.<ref name="bugliosi"/>{{rp|176–184}} 

Headlights approached the group from within the property, and Watson ordered the women to lie in the bushes. He stepped out and ordered the approaching driver, Parent, to halt. Watson leveled a [[.22 caliber]] [[revolver]] at Parent, who begged him not to hurt him, claiming that he would not say anything. Watson lunged at Parent with a knife, giving him a [[defensive wound|defensive slash wound]] on the palm of his hand that severed tendons and tore the boy's watch off his wrist, then shot him four times in the chest and abdomen, killing him in the front seat of his white 1965 [[AMC Ambassador]] coupe. Watson ordered the women to help push the car up the driveway.<ref name="bugliosi"/>{{rp|22–25}}<ref name="watson14"/>

Watson next cut the screen of a window, then told Kasabian to keep watch down by the gate; she walked over to Parent's car and waited.<ref name="bugliosi"/>{{rp|258–269}}<ref name="bugliosi"/>{{rp|176–184}}<ref name="watson14"/> Watson removed the screen, entered through the window and let Atkins and Krenwinkel in through the front door.<ref name="bugliosi"/>{{rp|176–184}} He whispered to Atkins and awoke Frykowski, who was sleeping on the living room couch. Watson kicked him in the head,<ref name="watson14"/> and Frykowski asked him who he was and what he was doing there. Watson replied, "I'm the devil, and I'm here to do the devil's business."<ref name="bugliosi"/>{{rp|176–184}}<ref name="watson14"/>

On Watson's direction, Atkins found the house's three other occupants with Krenwinkel's help<ref name="bugliosi"/>{{rp|176–184, 297–300}} and forced them to the living room. Watson began to tie Tate and Sebring together by their necks with a long nylon rope which he had brought, then slung it over one of the living room's ceiling beams. Sebring protested the rough treatment of the pregnant Tate, so Watson shot him. Folger was taken momentarily back to her bedroom for her purse, and she gave the murderers $70. Watson then stabbed Sebring seven times.<ref name="bugliosi"/>{{rp|28–38}}<ref name="watson14"/> Frykowski's hands had been bound with a towel, but he freed himself and began struggling with Atkins, who stabbed at his legs with a knife.<ref name="watson14"/> He fought his way out the front door and onto the porch, but Watson caught up with him, struck him over the head with the gun multiple times, stabbed him repeatedly and shot him twice.<ref name="watson14"/>

Kasabian had heard "horrifying sounds" and moved toward the house from her position in the driveway. She told Atkins that someone was coming in an attempt to stop the murders.<ref name="bugliosi"/>{{rp|258–269}}<ref name="watson14"/> Inside the house, Folger escaped from Krenwinkel and fled out a bedroom door to the pool area.<ref name="bugliosi"/>{{rp|341–344, 356–361}} Krenwinkel pursued her and caught her on the front lawn, where she stabbed her and tackled her to the ground. Watson then helped kill her; her assailants stabbed her a total of twenty-eight times.<ref name="bugliosi"/>{{rp|28–38}}<ref name="watson14"/> Frykowski struggled across the lawn, but Watson continued to stab him, killing him. Frykowski suffered fifty-one stab wounds; he had also been struck thirteen times in the head with the butt of Watson's gun, which bent the barrel and broke off one side of the gun grip, which was recovered at the scene.<ref name="bugliosi"/>{{rp|28–38, 258–269}}<ref name="watson14"/>

In the house, Tate pleaded to be allowed to live long enough to give birth and offered herself as a hostage in an attempt to save the life of her unborn child. Instead both Atkins and Watson stabbed Tate sixteen times, killing her. The [[coroner's inquest]] found that Tate was still alive when she was hanged with the nylon rope, although the cause of her death was determined as a "[[massive hemorrhage]]",<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1970/08/22/archives/coroner-details-the-tate-killing-says-actress-was-stabbed-16-times.html CORONER DETAILS THE TATE KILLING]</ref> while in Sebring's murder it was found that he was hanged lifeless.<ref name="bugliosi"/>{{rp|28–38}}

According to Watson, Manson had told the women to "leave a sign—something witchy".<ref name="watson14"/> Atkins wrote "pig" on the front door in Tate's blood.<ref name="bugliosi"/>{{rp|84–90, 176–184}}<ref name="watson14"/> Atkins claims she did this to copycat the Hinman murder scene in order to get Beausoleil out of jail, who was in custody for that murder.<ref name="bugliosi"/>{{rp|426–435}}

=== LaBianca murders ===
The four murderers plus Manson, Leslie Van Houten and [[Clem Grogan]] went for a drive the following night. Manson was allegedly displeased with the previous night's murders, so he told Kasabian to drive to a house at 3301 Waverly Drive in the [[Los Feliz, Los Angeles|Los Feliz]] section of Los Angeles. Located next door to a home where Manson and Family members had attended a party the previous year,<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|176–184, 204–210}} it belonged to 44-year-old supermarket executive Leno LaBianca and his 43-year-old wife, Rosemary LaBianca, co-owner of a dress shop.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|22–25, 42–48}}

According to Atkins and Kasabian, Manson disappeared up the driveway and returned to say that he had tied up the house's occupants. Watson, Krenwinkel and Van Houten entered the property.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|176–184, 258–269}} Watson claims in his autobiography that Manson went up alone, then returned to take him up to the house with him. Manson pointed out a sleeping man through a window, and the two entered through the unlocked back door.<ref name="watson19">{{cite web|url=http://www.aboundinglove.org/main/books/will-you-die-for-me|title=Will You Die For Me?, Ch. 19|last=Watson|first=Charles|website=Abounding Love Ministries|access-date=July 13, 2019|archive-date=April 5, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070405004745/http://www.aboundinglove.org/main/books/will-you-die-for-me|url-status=dead}}</ref> Watson claims Manson roused the sleeping Leno LaBianca from the couch at gunpoint and had Watson bind his hands with a leather thong. Rosemary was brought into the living room from the bedroom, and Watson covered the couple's heads with pillowcases which he bound in place with lamp cords. Manson left, and Krenwinkel and Van Houten entered the house.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|176–184, 258–269}}

Watson had complained to Manson earlier of the inadequacy of the previous night's weapons.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|258–269}} Watson sent the women from the kitchen to the bedroom, where Rosemary LaBianca had been returned, while he went to the living room and began stabbing Leno LaBianca with a chrome-plated bayonet. The first thrust went into his throat. Watson heard a scuffle in the bedroom and went in there to discover Rosemary LaBianca keeping the women at bay by swinging the lamp tied to her neck. He stabbed her several times with the bayonet, then returned to the living room and resumed attacking Leno, whom he stabbed a total of twelve times. He then carved the word "WAR" into his abdomen.

Watson returned to the bedroom and found Krenwinkel stabbing Rosemary with a knife from the kitchen. Van Houten stabbed her approximately sixteen times in the back and the exposed buttocks.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|204–210, 297–300, 341–344}} Van Houten claimed at trial<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|433}} that Rosemary LaBianca was already dead during the stabbing. Evidence showed that many of the forty-one stab wounds had, in fact, been inflicted post-mortem.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|44, 206, 297, 341–42, 380, 404, 406–07, 433}} Watson then cleaned off the bayonet and showered, while Krenwinkel wrote "Rise" and "Death to pigs" on the walls and "[[Helter Skelter (scenario)|Healter [sic] Skelter]]" on the refrigerator door, all in LaBianca's blood. She gave Leno LaBianca fourteen puncture wounds with an ivory-handled, two-tined carving fork, which she left jutting out of his stomach. She also planted a steak knife in his throat.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|176–184, 258–269}}

Meanwhile, Manson drove the other three Family members who had departed Spahn with him that evening to the [[Venice, Los Angeles|Venice]] home of the Lebanese actor Saladin Nader. Manson left them there and drove back to Spahn Ranch, leaving them and the LaBianca killers to hitchhike home.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|176–184, 258–269}} According to Kasabian, Manson wanted his followers to murder Nader in his apartment, but Kasabian claims she thwarted this murder by deliberately knocking on the wrong apartment door and waking a stranger. The group abandoned the murder plan and left, but Atkins defecated in the stairwell on the way out.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|270–273}}

=== Shea murder ===
35-year-old [[Cinema of the United States|Hollywood]] [[stuntman]] '''[[Donald Shea|Donald Jerome "Shorty" Shea]]''' was murdered on August 26, 1969,<ref name=GroganBio>{{cite web|title=Steve Grogan biography|url=http://www.biography.com/people/steve-grogan-20902805|website=www.biography.com|publisher=Bio.|access-date=November 22, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151123043736/http://www.biography.com/people/steve-grogan-20902805|archive-date=November 23, 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref> more than two weeks after the [[Tate–LaBianca murders]], when Manson told Shea, Bruce Davis, [[Tex Watson]], and Steve Grogan to go on a ride to a nearby car parts yard on the Spahn Ranch. According to Davis, he sat in the back seat with Grogan, who then hit Shea with a pipe wrench and Watson stabbed him. They brought Shea down a hill behind the ranch and stabbed and brutally tortured him to death. Bruce Davis recalled at his parole hearings:

{{cquote|I was in the car when Steve Grogan hit Shorty with the pipe wrench. Charles Watson stabbed him. I was in the backseat with... with Grogan. They took Shorty out. They had to go down the hill to a place. I stayed in the car for quite a while but what... then I went down the hill later on and that's when I cut Shorty on the shoulder with the knife, after he was... well, I don't know... I... I don't know if he was dead or not. He didn't bleed when I cut him on the shoulder.

When I showed up, you know, he was... he was incapacitated. I don't know if... you asked if he was unconscious, I don't know. He may or may not have been. He didn't seem conscious. He wasn't moving or saying anything. And it started off Manson handed me a machete as if I was supposed to... I mean I know what he wanted. But you know I couldn't do that. And I... in fact, I did touch Shorty Shea with a machete on the back of his neck, didn't break the skin. I mean I just couldn't do it. And then I threw the knife... and he handed me a bayonet and it... I just reached over and... I don't know which side it was on but I cut him right about here on the shoulder just with the tip of the blade. Sort of like saying "Are you satisfied, Charlie?"

And I turned around and walked away. And I... I was sick for about two or three days. I mean I couldn't even think about what I... what I had done.<ref>{{cite web|title=SUBSEQUENT PAROLE CONSIDERATION HEARING STATE OF CALIFORNIA BOARD OF PAROLE HEARINGS In the matter of the Life Term Parole Consideration Hearing of: CHARLES WATSON CDC Number: B-37999|url=http://www.cielodrive.com/charles-tex-watson-parole-hearing-2011.php|access-date=22 November 2013}}</ref>}}

In December 1977, Shea's skeletal remains were discovered on a nondescript hillside near Santa Susana Road next to [[Spahn Ranch]] after Grogan, one of those convicted of the murder, agreed to aid authorities in the recovery of Shea's body by drawing a map to its location.<ref name=MailTribune>{{cite web|url=https://mailtribune.com/news/top-stories/family-secrets-book-sheds-light-on-murder-by-manson/|work=[[Mail Tribune]]|title=Family secrets: Book sheds light on murder by Manson|first=Vickie|last=Aldous|date=June 9, 2019|access-date=July 2, 2023|archive-date=August 1, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220801150425/https://www.mailtribune.com/news/top-stories/family-secrets-book-sheds-light-on-murder-by-manson/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.wpxi.com/news/deep-viral/manson-family-murders-two-nights-of-brutality-that-terrorized-1969-los-angeles/974205161 |title=Manson family murders: Two nights of brutality that terrorized 1969 Los Angeles |first=Crystal |last=Bonvillian |date=August 12, 2019 |access-date=August 20, 2019 |work=[[WPXI]] |publisher=[[Cox Media Group]]}}</ref> According to the autopsy report, his body suffered multiple stab and chopping wounds to the chest, and blunt force trauma to the head.<ref name=SheaAutopsy>Shea, Donald Jerome. Autopsy report case no. 77-15110, Office of the Chief Medical Examiner-Coroner, County of Los Angeles (December 16, 1977).</ref>

=== Suspected murders ===
{{See also|Manson Family#Suspected further murders}}
In total, Manson and his followers were convicted of nine counts of [[first-degree murder]]. However, the LAPD believes that the Family could have claimed up to at least twelve more victims.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Tata|first1=Samantha|last2=Kovacik|first2=Robert|title=12 Unsolved Murders Have Possible Ties to Manson Family, LAPD Says|url=https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/charles-tex-watson-manson-lapd-lawyer-audio-tape-recordings-murders/1939554/|access-date=June 2, 2022|work=NBC Los Angeles|date=October 18, 2012}}</ref><ref name="Los Angeles Times">{{cite news|last1=Winton|first1=Richard|title=How many more did Manson family kill? LAPD investigating 12 unsolved murders|url=https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-08-07/charles-manson-unsolved-murders|access-date=June 2, 2022|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=August 8, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=12 Unsolved murders link to Charles Manson|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/9622216/Unsolved-murders-link-to-Charles-Manson.html|access-date=June 2, 2022|work=[[The Daily Telegraph|The Telegraph]]|date=October 20, 2012}}</ref> Cliff Shepard, a former LAPD Robbery-Homicide Division detective, said that Manson "repeatedly" claimed to have killed many others. Prosecutor Stephen Kay supported this assertion: "I know that Manson one time told one of his cellmates that he was responsible for 35 murders." Tate's younger sister, Debra Tate, has also claimed that investigators are "just scraping the surface" when it comes to the number of Manson's victims and has further elaborated on how Manson sent her a taunting map of the [[Panamint Range]], with crosses on it that she believed were meant to represent buried bodies. This has resulted in several excavations that have been undertaken at Manson's [[Barker Ranch]], but they have not resulted in any bodies being found.<ref>{{cite news|title=Did The Manson Family Have Other Victims?|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/did-the-manson-family-have-other-victims/|access-date=June 2, 2022|work=[[CBS News]]|date=March 16, 2008}}</ref> 
* '''Nancy Warren''', 64, and '''Clyda Dulaney''', 24, were both found near [[Ukiah, California]] at the antique store owned by Warren on October 13, 1968. They had both been beaten and strangled to death with thirty-six leather thongs.<ref>{{cite news|title=Seven-year-old child finds bodies; no clue to slayer|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/1212658/|access-date=June 2, 2022|work=Ukiah Daily Journal|date=October 14, 1968}}</ref> After the Family members were arrested, they became suspects when it was discovered that members of the Family had been in the Ukiah area at the time of the murders. However, no one in the Family was ever charged with the murders and no arrests were ever made in the case.
* '''Marina Elizabeth Habe''', 17, was murdered on December 30, 1968. She was a student at the [[University of Hawaii]] home on vacation when she was murdered in [[Los Angeles]].<ref>''More of Hollywood's Unsolved Mysteries'', John Austin, SP Books, 1992, p. 240.<!--ISSN/ISBN needed--></ref><ref name="The Family">Ed Sanders, ''The Family'', [[Avon Books]], May 1972, p. 132.<!-- ISSN/ISBN needed --></ref> According to the autopsy report, Habe's throat had been slashed and she had received numerous knife wounds to the chest. She suffered multiple contusions to the face and throat, and had been garrotted. There was no evidence of rape.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.philropost.com/2015/02/suspects-and-suspicions.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150415041135/http://www.philropost.com/2015/02/suspects-and-suspicions.html |archive-date=April 15, 2015 |title=SUSPECTS AND SUSPICIONS|website=philropost.com|date=February 2015}}</ref> Habe was abducted outside the home of her mother in [[West Hollywood]], 8962 Cynthia Avenue.<ref>"Police report progress of autopsy", ''Los Angeles Times'', January 3, 1969, pg. D1.</ref> A former Manson Family associate claimed members of the Family had known Habe and it was conjectured she had been one of their victims.<ref name="The Family"/><ref name=times>"Officials Reveal Coed, 17, Was Stabbed To Death", ''Los Angeles Times'', January 3, 1969, pg. SF1.</ref>
* '''Darwin Morell Scott''', 64, was the uncle of Manson and the brother of Manson's father, Colonel Scott. On May 27, 1969, Scott was found brutally stabbed to death in his [[Ashland, Kentucky]] apartment. His body was pinned to the kitchen floor with a butcher knife, and he had been stabbed nineteen times. After Manson's arrest, it was reported that local residents claimed to have seen a man resembling Manson using the alias, "Preacher", in the area at the time Darwin was murdered. Manson was on parole in California at the time of the murder, but the murder occurred when Manson was out of touch with his parole officers.<ref>{{cite news|title=Stabbing Evidence Still Out|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/80979236/death-of-darwin-morell-scott-64-who/|access-date=June 2, 2022|work=The Dominion News|date=May 30, 1969}}</ref>
* '''Mark Walts''', 16, was an acquaintance of the Family members and was even known to associate with them at the Spahn Ranch. On July 17, 1969, Walts hitchhiked to the [[Santa Monica Pier]] so he could go fishing. His fishing pole was found abandoned at the pier, and his body was found the next day near [[Mulholland Drive]]. He had been shot three times in the chest. Though the Family was reportedly "shocked" by Walts' murder, his brother was convinced that Manson was responsible for his death and even called him in order to directly accuse him of his murder. The Los Angeles Sheriff's Department investigated Spahn Ranch in regard to Walts' murder, but no links were found, and the murder was never solved.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Romano|first1=Aja|title=The Manson Family murders, and their complicated legacy, explained|url=https://www.vox.com/2019/8/7/20695284/charles-manson-family-what-is-helter-skelter-explained|accessdate=June 2, 2022|work=[[Vox (website)|Vox]]|date=August 7, 2019}}</ref>
* '''John Philip Haught''', 22, was an [[Ohio]] native who had moved to [[California]] and met Manson in the summer of 1969. He joined the Manson Family and was amongst the group who was arrested in the October raid of the clan for the [[Tate-LaBianca murders]]; Manson suspected him of being an informant. On November 5, 1969, Haught was associating with some members of the Family. According to all present, Haught suddenly found a gun in the room, picked it up, and promptly shot himself while attempting a game of [[Russian roulette]]. However, when police investigated the death, they found that the gun, rather than having zero bullets and one spent shell casing, instead contained seven bullets and one spent shell. Moreover, the gun had been wiped free of prints. Additionally, a male witness who had held Haught's head after the shooting told Cohen he had entered the room to find a female Manson follower with the gun in her hand.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Romano|first1=Aja|title=The Manson Family murders, and their complicated legacy, explained|url=https://www.vox.com/2019/8/7/20695284/charles-manson-family-what-is-helter-skelter-explained|access-date=June 2, 2022|work=[[Vox (website)|Vox]]|date=August 7, 2019}}</ref> Despite this, police concluded Haught had killed himself.
* '''James Sharp''', 15, and '''Doreen Gaul''', 19, were both found stabbed to death in an alley in Los Angeles on November 7, 1969. The murder of the two young [[Scientologists]] involved both being stabbed between fifty and sixty times. Police immediately noted the similarities to these murders and those of the [[Tate-LaBianca murders]];<ref>{{cite news|last1=Pelisek|first1=Christine|title=Did Charles Manson Have 4 More Victims? 'There's an Answer There Somewhere,' Says LAPD Detective|url=https://people.com/crime/did-charles-manson-have-4-more-victims-people-magazine-investigates/?did=344169-20190222&cid=344169&mid=18790762691|access-date=June 2, 2022|work=[[People (magazine)|People]]|date=February 22, 2019}}</ref> the killings of Sharp and Gaul happened close to where the Labianca's lived. In ''[[Helter Skelter (book)|Helter Skelter]]'', author Vincent Bugliosi wrote that Gaul was rumoured to be a former girlfriend of Manson Family member [[Bruce M. Davis|Bruce Davis]]—Davis had lived at the same housing complex as Gaul, but in a police interview he denied knowing her.
* '''[[Reet Jurvetson]]''', 19, was a young woman found stabbed to death on November 16, 1969.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Siemaszko|first1=Corky|title=Reet Jurvetson, Killed in 1969, Could Be a Manson Family Murder Victim|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/reet-jurvetson-killed-1969-could-be-manson-family-murder-victim-n564106|access-date=September 7, 2016|publisher=[[NBC]]|date=April 28, 2016}}</ref> Her body was found with over one hundred and fifty stab wounds from a penknife to her neck and upper body, along with defensive wounds on her hands and arms. She had been disposed of along [[Mulholland Drive]] in [[Los Angeles, California]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://people.com/crime/lapd-seeks-to-identify-two-men-in-connection-with-murder-of-reet-jurvetson/ |title=L.A. Cops Search for Two in 1969 Unsolved Murder of Reet Jurvetson; Say No Charles Manson Connection |newspaper=[[People (magazine)|People]]|date=September 8, 2016 |access-date=March 29, 2017}}</ref> Some witnesses claimed to have seen a woman named "Sherry" who matched Jurvetson's description among members of the Manson Family, but it turned out that this individual was alive. Manson himself denied any involvement in killing Jurvetson. Detectives within the Los Angeles Police Department have noted "striking similarities" between the method of murder of both Jurvetson and Habe, but no firm connection between both murders has ever been established.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/reet-jurvetson-other-cases-1.3857691 |title=Could Canadian's Brutal 1969 Stabbing Death Be Connected to Another L.A. Cold Case? |access-date=September 3, 2017 |newspaper=CBC News |date=November 20, 2016}}</ref>
* '''Joel Pugh''', 29, was found dead in the Talgarth Hotel in [[London]], England, on December 1, 1969. His wrists had been cut and his throat was slit twice. British authorities listed the death a drug-induced suicide, saying Pugh had been depressed. Pugh was a Family member who was married to another member of the Family, [[Sandra Good]]. Stephen Kay and others claim Manson hated Pugh. "He had no reason to commit suicide, and Manson was very unhappy that Sandy was with Pugh", Kay has said. Pugh's death occurred when a number of Manson Family members were being arrested for the [[Tate-LaBianca murders]]. Manson follower [[Bruce M. Davis|Bruce Davis]] was in London at the time Pugh died.<ref name="Los Angeles Times"/>
* '''[[Ronald Hughes]]''', 35, was an American [[Lawyer|attorney]] who represented [[Leslie Van Houten]], a member of the Manson Family. Hughes disappeared while on a camping trip during a ten-day recess from the [[#Trial|Tate-LaBianca murder trial]] in November 1970. The badly decomposed body of Hughes was found in March 1971 wedged between two boulders in [[Ventura County, California|Ventura County]].<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|457}} It was rumoured, although never proven, that Hughes was murdered by the Family, possibly because he had stood up to Manson and refused to allow Van Houten to take the stand and absolve Manson of the crimes,<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|387, 394, 481}} though he might have perished in flooding.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|393–394, 481}}<ref name="Sanders"/>{{rp|436–438}} Attorney Stephen Kay has stated that while he is "on the fence" about the Family's involvement in Hughes' death, Manson had open contempt for Hughes during the trial. Kay added, "The last thing Manson said to him [Hughes] was, 'I don't want to see you in the courtroom again,' and he was never seen again alive."<ref name="latimes">{{cite web|url=http://articles.latimes.com/2012/jun/01/local/la-me-manson-tapes-20120601/2|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120603205301/http://articles.latimes.com/2012/jun/01/local/la-me-manson-tapes-20120601/2|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 3, 2012|title=Manson follower's tapes may yield new clues, LAPD says|last=Becerra|first=Hector|author2=Winton, Richard |date=June 1, 2012|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|page=2|accessdate=January 8, 2013}}</ref> Family member [[Sandra Good]] stated that Hughes was "the first of the retaliation murders".<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|481–482, 625}}
* On November 8, 1972, the body of 26-year-old Vietnam Marine combat veteran '''James Lambert Willett''' was found by a hiker near [[Guerneville, California]].<ref name=SuspectInKilling /> Months earlier, he had been forced to dig his own grave, and then was shot and poorly buried. His [[station wagon]] was found outside a house in [[Stockton, California|Stockton]] where several Manson followers were living, including Priscilla Cooper, Lynette Fromme, and Nancy Pitman. Police forced their way into the house and arrested several of the people there. The body of Willett's 19-year-old wife '''Lauren Chavelle Willett'''<ref name=posed>"Two men and three women charged with murder of 19-year-old girl",  [[Reuters]] News Service, 1972.</ref> was found buried in the basement.<ref name=SuspectInKilling>[http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/9/suspectinkillingnov1419.jpg Manson Family Suspect in Killing] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120618170246/http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/9/suspectinkillingnov1419.jpg |date=June 18, 2012}}, ''The Times Standard'', November 14, 1972.</ref> She had been killed very recently by a gunshot to the head, in what the Family members initially claimed was an accident. It was later suggested that she was killed out of fear that she would reveal who killed her husband. Michael Monfort pleaded guilty to murdering Lauren and Priscilla Cooper, James Craig, and Nancy Pitman pleaded guilty as accessories after the fact. Monfort and William Goucher later pleaded guilty to the murder of James, and James Craig pleaded guilty as an accessory after the fact. The group had been living in the house with the Willetts while committing various robberies. Shortly after killing Willett, Monfort had used Willett's identification papers to pose as Willett after being arrested for an armed robbery of a liquor store. Willett was not involved in the robberies<ref>[http://img109.imageshack.us/img109/2748/exconsmanosngirlscharge.jpg "Ex-cons, Manson Girls Charged"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120618170315/http://img109.imageshack.us/img109/2748/exconsmanosngirlscharge.jpg |date=June 18, 2012}}, ''The Billings Gazette'', November 15, 1972.</ref> and wanted to move away but was presumably killed out of fear that he would talk to police.
* '''[[Laurence Merrick]]''', 50, was an American [[film director]] and [[author]]. He is best known for co-directing the Oscar nominated documentary [[Manson (film)|Manson]] in 1973.  [[Sharon Tate]] was a former student at Merrick's Academy of Dramatic Arts.<ref>{{cite web|last=Eugene Oregon Register-Guard |title=Producer of movie on Manson 'family' slain in Hollywood |url=http://www.thezodiacmansonconnection.com/crockett_merrick.html |access-date=May 11, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120719231830/http://www.thezodiacmansonconnection.com/crockett_merrick.html |archive-date=July 19, 2012 }}</ref> Merrick was killed by a gunman on January 26, 1977. He was shot in the back in the carpark of his acting school. Merrick's murder went unsolved until October 1981 when 35-year-old Dennis Mignano confessed to police. At his subsequent trial, Mignano was found not guilty by reason of insanity and committed to a mental hospital. Mignano was an unemployed would-be actor and singer with a long history of psychiatric problems and a possible prior relationship with the Manson clan.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/30388705/|title=Valley News from Van Nuys, California on September 30, 1977 · Page 64|website=Newspapers.com|date=September 30, 1977 |access-date=July 20, 2018}}</ref>
* Six months after the murder of Merrick, Mignano's sister '''Michele Mignano''', 21, a topless dancer, was also murdered. Her body was found on June 13, 1977, 350&nbsp;ft into a Western Pacific railroad tunnel in Niles Canyon. Authorities referred to her death as an "execution-style slaying" with her dying from exsanguination due to multiple gunshot wounds. A number of bullet cartridges were found near her body. She was shoeless yet fully clothed with jewellery so sexual assault and robbery were both ruled out as motives. Her murder has never been solved.<ref>[https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPT9cYtggMEPcAr7svJKiEqZYIZ8BHDhLLwOPjTM-9lnjahUZ0jVYBC5voN_G5wTe7gD7AxMx5qLWe7eM1CBWd2dNpSa-wGCrlfav6-ws-DJlsmG_yvDDyQaEesRYPUnyIg8mtHQev-8zP/s1600/Dennis+Mignano+sister+1.png Identity of dead woman a mystery] The Argus Fremont, June 14, 1977</ref><ref>[https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirAXZnHxJdqPQIPo0g6Q8TtIFlLicYNrBTJGUkCBAHBmt5vVui1Cnr3gQe6mRGV4k31x6RwpLljDmRBBIorQp6xt0wJcXN87z0HCVpxmNwlwoS9Az9zE4-k9_LmA9UZpSh9rNwWCUqJfe2/s1600/Dennis+Mignano+sister+3.png Woman's murder not a sex crime] The Argus Fremont, June 22, 1977</ref>

=== Investigation ===
The Tate murders became national news on August 9, 1969, after the Polanskis' housekeeper, Winifred Chapman, arrived for work that morning.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|5–6, 11–15}} On August 10, detectives of the [[Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department]], which had jurisdiction in the Hinman case, informed [[Los Angeles Police Department]] detectives assigned to the Tate case of the bloody writing at the Hinman house. According to [[Vincent Bugliosi]], because detectives believed the Tate murders were a consequence of a drug transaction, the Tate team initially ignored this and other evidence of similarities between the crimes.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|28–38}}<ref name="Sanders"/>{{rp|243–244}}

During the Tate autopsies, detectives working on the Hinman case noticed similarities in the weapons used, the stab wounds, and the writing in blood on the walls. They brought the information to detectives working on the Tate murders. According to Detective Charlie Guenther, "Vince [Bugliosi] didn't want anything to do with the Hinman case. Hinman was a nothing case. Vince didn't want to prosecute it."<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|28–38}}<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|28–38}}

Held briefly as a Tate suspect, Garretson told police he had neither seen nor heard anything on the murder night. He was released on August 11, 1969, after undergoing a [[polygraph]] examination that indicated he had not been involved in the crimes.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|28–38, 42–48}} The LaBianca crime scene was discovered at 10:30&nbsp;p.m. on August 10, approximately nineteen hours after the murders were committed, when 15-year-old Frank Struthers, Rosemary's son from a prior marriage and Leno's stepson, returned from a camping trip.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|38}}

On August 12, 1969, the LAPD told the press it had ruled out any connection between the Tate and LaBianca homicides.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|42–48}} On August 16, the sheriff's office raided Spahn Ranch and arrested Manson and twenty-five others, as "suspects in a major auto theft ring" that had been stealing [[Volkswagen Beetle]]s and converting them into [[Dune buggy|dune buggies]]. Weapons were seized, but, because the search warrant had been misdated, the group was released a few days later.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|56}} In a report at the end of August, the LaBianca detectives noted a possible connection between the bloody writings at the LaBianca house and "the singing group the Beatles' most recent album."<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|65}}

Still working separately from the Tate team, the LaBianca team checked with the sheriff's office in mid-October about possible similar crimes. They learned of the Hinman case and also learned that the Hinman detectives had spoken with Beausoleil's girlfriend, Kitty Lutesinger. She had been arrested a few days earlier with members of the Manson Family.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|75–77}}

The arrests, for car thefts, had taken place at the desert ranches to which the Family had moved.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|228–233}}<ref name="watson12"/> A joint force of [[National Park Service Ranger]]s and officers from the [[California Highway Patrol]] and the [[Inyo County, California|Inyo County]] Sheriff's Office: federal, state, and county personnel, had raided both the Myers and Barker ranches after following evidence left when Family members had burned an [[Heavy equipment|earthmover]] owned by [[Death Valley National Park|Death Valley National Monument]].<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|125–127}}<ref name="Sanders"/>{{rp|282–283}} The raiders had found stolen dune buggies and other vehicles, and arrested two dozen people, including Manson. A Highway Patrol officer found Manson hiding in a cabinet beneath Barker's bathroom sink.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|75–77, 125–127}}

Following up leads a month after they had spoken with Lutesinger, LaBianca detectives contacted members of a motorcycle gang Manson tried to recruit as bodyguards while the Family was at Spahn Ranch.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|75–77}}<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|84–90, 99–113}} Meanwhile, a dormitory mate of [[Susan Atkins]] informed LAPD of the Family's involvement in the crimes.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|99–113}} Atkins was booked for the Hinman murder after she told sheriff's detectives that she had been involved in it.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|75–77}}<ref>Report on questioning of Katherine Lutesinger and Susan Atkins October 13, 1969, by Los Angeles Sheriff's officers Paul Whiteley and Charles Guenther.</ref> Transferred to [[Sybil Brand Institute]], a detention center in [[Monterey Park, California]], she had begun talking to bunkmates Ronnie Howard and Virginia Graham, to whom she gave accounts of the events in which she had been involved.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|91–96}}

=== Apprehension ===
On December 1, 1969, the LAPD announced warrants for the arrest of Watson, Krenwinkel, and Kasabian in the Tate case; the suspects' involvement in the LaBianca murders was noted. Manson and Atkins, already in custody, were not mentioned; the connection between the LaBianca case and Van Houten, who was also among those arrested near Death Valley, had not yet been recognized.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|125–127, 155–161, 176–184}} Watson and Krenwinkel were already under arrest, with authorities in [[McKinney, Texas]], and [[Mobile, Alabama]], having picked them up on notice from LAPD.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|155–161}} Informed that a warrant was out for her arrest, Kasabian voluntarily surrendered to authorities in [[Concord, New Hampshire]] on December 2.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|155–161}}

Physical evidence such as Krenwinkel's and Watson's fingerprints, which had been collected by LAPD at Cielo Drive,<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|15, 156, 273, and photographs between 340–41}} was augmented by evidence recovered by the public. On September 1, 1969, the distinctive .22-caliber Hi Standard "Buntline Special" revolver Watson used on Parent, Sebring, and Frykowski had been found and given to the police by Steven Weiss, a 10-year-old who lived near the Tate residence.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|66}} In mid-December, when the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' published a crime account based on information Susan Atkins had given her attorney,<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|160,193}} Weiss's father made several phone calls which finally prompted LAPD to locate the gun in its evidence file and connect it with the murders via ballistics tests.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|198–199}}

Acting on that same newspaper account, a local [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] television crew quickly located and recovered the bloody clothing discarded by the Tate killers.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|197–198}} The knives discarded en route from the Tate residence were never recovered, despite a search by some of the same crewmen and by LAPD.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|198, 273}}  A knife found behind the cushion of a chair in the Tate living room was apparently that of Susan Atkins, who lost her knife in the course of the attack.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|17, 180, 262}}<ref name="atkins"/>{{rp|141}}
The trial began on June 15, 1970.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|297–300}} The prosecution's main witness was Kasabian, who, along with Manson, Atkins, and Krenwinkel, had been charged with seven counts of murder and one of [[Conspiracy (criminal)|conspiracy]].<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|185–188}} Since Kasabian, by all accounts, had not participated in the killings, she was granted [[Qualified immunity|immunity]] in exchange for testimony that detailed the nights of the crimes.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|214–219, 250–253, 330–332}} Originally, a deal had been made with Atkins in which the prosecution agreed not to seek the death penalty against her in exchange for her grand jury testimony on which the indictments were secured; once Atkins repudiated that testimony, the deal was withdrawn.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|169, 173–184, 188, 292}} Because Van Houten had participated only in the LaBianca killings, she was charged with two counts of murder and one of conspiracy.

Originally, Judge [[William B. Keene|William Keene]] had reluctantly granted Manson permission to [[Pro se legal representation in the United States|act as his own attorney]]. Because of Manson's conduct, including violations of a [[gag order]] and submission of "outlandish" and "nonsensical" [[motion (legal)|pretrial motions]], the permission was withdrawn before the trial's start.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|200–202, 265}} Manson filed an affidavit of prejudice against Keene, who was replaced by Judge [[Charles Older]].<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|290}} On Friday, July 24, the first day of testimony, Manson appeared in court with an X carved into his forehead. He issued a statement that he was "considered inadequate and incompetent to speak or defend [him]self"—and had "X'd [him]self from [the establishment's] world."<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|310}}<ref name="Sanders"/>{{rp|388}} Over the following weekend, the female defendants duplicated the mark on their own foreheads, as did most Family members within another day or so.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|316}}

The prosecution argued the triggering of "Helter Skelter" was Manson's main motive.<ref name="bugliosi"/> The crime scene's bloody White Album reference, "helter skelter", written by [[Susan Atkins]], and the writing of "pigs" was correlated with testimony about Manson predictions that the murders Black people would commit at the outset of Helter Skelter would involve the writing of "pigs" on walls in victims' blood.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|244–247, 450–457}} The defendants testified that the writing in blood on the walls was to copy that of the Hinman murder scene, not an apocalyptic race war.<ref name="bugliosi"/>{{rp|426–435}} According to Bugliosi, Manson directed Kasabian to hide a wallet taken from the scene in the women's restroom of a service station near a Black neighborhood.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|176–184, 190–191, 258–269, 369–377}} However, as co-prosecutor Stephen Kay later pointed out the wallet was left about twenty miles away in a predominantly White neighborhood, [[Sylmar]].<ref>{{cite AV media|last=Day|first=Buddy|author-link=James Buddy Day|url=https://www.amazon.com/Charles-Manson-Final-Words/dp/B07YCDVCHX|title=Charles Manson: The Final Words|publisher=[[Pyramid Productions]]: via–[[Amazon Prime]]|date=December 3, 2017|access-date=August 9, 2021|time=1:14:00-1:15:00|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

=== Ongoing disruptions ===
During the trial, Family members loitered near the entrances and corridors of the courthouse. To keep them out of the courtroom proper, the prosecution [[subpoena]]ed them as prospective witnesses, who would not be able to enter while others were testifying.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|309}} When the group established itself in vigil on the sidewalk, some members wore sheathed hunting knives that, although in plain view, were carried legally. Each of them was also identifiable by the X on their forehead.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|339}}

Some Family members attempted to dissuade witnesses from testifying. Prosecution witnesses [[Paul Watkins (Manson Family)|Paul Watkins]] and Juan Flynn were both threatened;<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|280, 332–335}} Watkins was badly burned in a suspicious fire in his van.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|280}} Former Family member Barbara Hoyt, who had overheard [[Susan Atkins]] describing the Tate murders to Family member [[Ruth Ann Moorehouse]], agreed to accompany the latter to Hawaii. There, Moorehouse allegedly gave her a hamburger spiked with several doses of [[Lysergic acid diethylamide|LSD]]. Found sprawled on a [[Honolulu]] curb in a drugged semi-stupor, Hoyt was taken to the hospital, where she did her best to identify herself as a witness in the Tate–LaBianca murder trial. Before the incident, Hoyt had been a reluctant witness; after the attempt to silence her, her reticence disappeared.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|348–350, 361}}

On August 4, despite precautions taken by the court, Manson flashed the jury a ''Los Angeles Times'' front page whose headline was "Manson Guilty, Nixon Declares". This was a reference to a statement made the previous day when U.S. President [[Richard Nixon]] had decried what he saw as the media's glamorization of Manson. [[Voir dire]]d by Judge Charles Older, the jurors contended that the headline had not influenced them. The next day, the female defendants stood up and said in unison that, in light of Nixon's remark, there was no point in going on with the trial.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|323–238}}

On October 5, Manson was denied the court's permission to question a prosecution witness whom defense attorneys had declined to [[cross-examination|cross-examine]]. Leaping over the defense table, Manson attempted to attack the judge. Wrestled to the ground by bailiffs, he was removed from the courtroom with the female defendants, who had subsequently risen and begun chanting in Latin.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|369–377}} Thereafter, Older allegedly began wearing a revolver under his robes.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|369–377}}

=== Defense rests ===
On November 16, the prosecution rested its case. Three days later, after arguing standard dismissal motions, the defense stunned the court by resting as well, without calling a single witness. Shouting their disapproval, Atkins, Krenwinkel, and Van Houten demanded their right to testify.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|382–388}}

In chambers, the women's lawyers told the judge their clients wanted to testify that they had planned and committed the crimes and that Manson had not been involved.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|382–388}}  By resting their case, the defense lawyers had tried to stop this; Van Houten's attorney, [[Ronald Hughes]], vehemently stated that he would not "push a client out the window". In the prosecutor's view, it was Manson who was advising the women to testify in this way as a means of saving himself.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|382–388}} Speaking about the trial in a 1987 documentary, Krenwinkel said, "The entire proceedings were scripted—by Charlie."<ref>''[[Biography (TV series)|Biography]]''—"Charles Manson." [[A&E (TV channel)|A&E Network]].</ref>

The next day, Manson testified. The jury was removed from the courtroom. According to [[Vincent Bugliosi]] it was to make sure Manson's address did not violate the [[Supreme Court of California|California Supreme Court]]'s decision in ''People v. Aranda'' by making statements implicating his co-defendants.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|134}} However, Bugliosi argued Manson would use his hypnotic powers to unfairly influence the jury.<ref>{{cite AV media|last=Schreck|author-link=Nikolas Schreck|first=Nikolas|url=https://archive.org/details/Charles_Manson_SuperStar|title=Charles Manson: Superstar|time=46:00-47:00|date=1988|access-date=July 25, 2021}}</ref> Speaking for more than an hour, Manson said, among other things, that "the music is telling the youth to rise up against the establishment." He said, "Why blame it on me? I didn't write the music." "To be honest with you," Manson also stated, "I don't recall ever saying 'Get a knife and a change of clothes and go do what Tex says.{{'"}}<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|388–392}}

As the body of the trial concluded and with the closing arguments impending, defense attorney Hughes disappeared during a weekend trip.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|393–398}} When Maxwell Keith was appointed to represent Van Houten in Hughes' absence, a delay of more than two weeks was required to permit Keith to familiarize himself with the voluminous trial transcripts.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|393–398}} No sooner had the trial resumed, just before Christmas, than disruptions of the prosecution's closing argument by the defendants led Older to ban the four defendants from the courtroom for the remainder of the [[bifurcation (law)|guilt phase]]. This may have occurred because the defendants were acting in collusion with each other and were simply putting on a performance, which Older said was becoming obvious.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|399–407}}

=== Conviction and penalty phase ===
On January 25, 1971, the jury returned guilty verdicts against the four defendants on each of the twenty-seven separate counts against them.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|411–419}} Not far into the trial's [[bifurcation (law)|penalty phase]], the jurors saw the defense that Manson—in the prosecution's view—had planned to present.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|455}}  Atkins, Krenwinkel, and Van Houten testified the murders had been conceived as "copycat" versions of the Hinman murder, for which Atkins now took credit. The killings, they said, were intended to draw suspicion away from Bobby Beausoleil by resembling the crime for which he had been jailed. This plan had supposedly been the work of, and carried out under the guidance of, not Manson, but someone allegedly in love with Beausoleil—[[Linda Kasabian]].<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|424–433}} Among the narrative's weak points was the inability of Atkins to explain why, as she was maintaining, she had written "political piggy" at the Hinman house in the first place.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|424–433, 450–457}}

Midway through the penalty phase, Manson shaved his head and trimmed his beard to a fork; he told the press, "I am the Devil, and the Devil always has a bald head."<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|439}} In what the prosecution regarded as belated recognition on their part that imitation of Manson only proved his domination, the female defendants refrained from shaving their heads until the jurors retired to weigh the state's request for the death penalty.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|439, 455}} The effort to exonerate Manson via the "copycat" scenario failed. On March 29, 1971, the jury returned verdicts of death against all four defendants on all counts.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|450–457}} On April 19, 1971, Judge Older sentenced the four to death.<ref name="bugliosi" />{{Rp|458–459}}