Charles Milles Manson (born November 12, 1934) was convicted of murder in what became known as the Tate/La Bianca case. Although Manson himself has never killed anyone, his murder conviction stems from a group of young women and young men he recruited - the "Manson Family" - and directed to commit the acts.
Life
Manson was born in Cincinnati, Ohio and attended Walnut Hills High School. When he was thirteen, his mother attempted to put him in a foster home. When she was unable to find one for him, he ended up at Gibault School for Boys in Terre Haute, Indiana. Within a year he ran away, back to his mother, who still wanted nothing to do with him. As a result he began living on the streets, supporting himself by stealing.
In 1951, after a string of arrests and escapes Manson was sent to prison for driving a stolen car across state lines. By the end of 1952 he had eight assault charges against him. He was transferred to another facility where he became a model inmate, and was released in 1954.
In January of 1955, Charles married 17-year-old Rosalie Jean Willis. He and Rosalie decided to head to California. Soon after the wedding Charles was arrested after stealing a car. Rosalie became pregnant in April. Meanwhile the judge gave him probation for the offense. This was revoked in 1956 when he missed a court date. Soon after his arrest, Rosalie gave birth to their son, Charles Manson, Jr. (d. 1993; suicide (Age:38) ). Rosalie then left town with a truck driver and their son.
Charles was paroled in 1958 after serving 2 years of a 3 year sentence. In 1959 he was arrested again for passing stolen checks. Once again, he was given probation which was revoked nine months later. During his probation, he met a girl named Leona, whom he married.
On June 1, 1960 Manson was arrested for soliciting Censored page. He was ordered to serve his ten year suspended sentence for passing stolen checks. Soon after his arrest, Leona gave birth to his second son, Charles Luther Manson, and served him divorce papers.
"The family"
Manson had spent most of his adult life in jail, mostly for such offenses as car theft and credit card fraud. He also worked some time as a pimp. He was released in 1967. Manson moved to San Francisco, California and gathered a group of followers, which he referred to as the Family. He soon afterwards moved to Los Angeles, at first basing himself and the Family in Pacific Palisades and then taking over an un-used ranch in the western San Fernando Valley formerly used to make western movies, the Spahn Ranch . Inspired by the Beatles song "Helter Skelter" and other songs off the White Album he became convinced of an impending race war and nuclear attack, based on Biblical prophecy in the Book of Revelation.
On the night of August 9, 1969, Manson's "family", consisting of Charles "Tex" Watson, Patricia Krenwinkel, and Susan Atkins entered the home of actress Sharon Tate, wife of director Roman Polanski, who was eight months pregnant, and murdered her along with friend, Hollywood hairstylist Jay Sebring, and houseguests Abigail Folger, the coffee heiress, and her lover Wojciech Frykowski (frequently misspelled as Voytek Frykowski). Before entering the house, they had shot to death Steven Parent, an 18 year old youth who was leaving the property and had unwittingly seen the intruders. The family had also intended to kill novelist Jerzy Kosinski who was also supposed to be at the house, but Kosinski was stranded in New York due to a missed connecting flight. Fellow follower Linda Kasabian was look-out and later received immunity for submitting evidence against the group. The following night in the Los Feliz section of Los Angeles, California, businessman Leno LaBianca and his wife Rosemary LaBianca were also murdered in their home, once again by members of the Family (Tex, Krenwinkel and Leslie Van Houten). There was no apparent connection between the victims of the murders, but the crimes were prosecuted by Los Angeles assistant district attorney Vincent Bugliosi in a single trial. Members of the Manson Family had previously been responsible for the murder of Gary Hinman , a music teacher, in Topanga and were suspected of other murders.
Possible motive
Manson may actually have had a motive for the killings. In the spring of 1968, Charles was introduced to record producer Terry Melcher, son of actress Doris Day, by Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys, who had picked up a couple of the Family members as they were hitchhiking. Manson and the Family moved into Wilson's house, where they lived for a year, and the Beach Boys recorded a song Charles wrote. At the time, Melcher and his girlfriend, actress Candice Bergen, were living at the Tate house, and it was there Manson met him.
Manson auditioned for Melcher, but Melcher decided not to sign him to a contract. A furious Manson sent the Family to the Tate house to kill Melcher. But, unknown to Manson, Melcher had moved out and was renting the house to Tate and Polanski. Manson released an album titled Lie on March 6, 1970 to help finance his defense. The album was put out by ESP-Disk Records in New York City, and included the song that has previously been recorded by the Beach Boys.
Trial
Ronald Hughes, a young lawyer with an extensive knowledge of alternative culture, was the state-appointed attorney for defendants Manson and Van Houten. He suggested to Manson that he obtain a more competent attorney, Irving Kanarek, and continued to defend Van Houten. Kanarek took over two weeks before the start of the trial. The reason for Hughes' pre-trial maneuver was apparently so that he could defend Van Houten more effectively. He hoped to show that Van Houten was acting under the influence of Manson, and to portray Manson as controlling her actions.
This may have cost him his life. In late November, 1970, Hughes went camping near Sespe Hot Springs. He disappeared, and his decomposed body was discovered four months later. It is thought that other members of the Family killed him in reprisal for impugning Manson in court.
Manson himself was not present at the Tate killings, but he was convicted of murder on January 25, 1971 and on March 29 was sentenced to the death penalty. The death sentence was later automatically commuted to life in prison after the California Supreme Court's People v. Anderson decision resulted in the invalidation of all death sentences imposed in California prior to 1972. Manson remains imprisoned to this day; all of his applications for parole have been denied, most notably in 1986 when he appeared before the parole board with a swastika embossed on his forehead. During his stay in prison, Manson has received more mail than any other prisoner in the United States prison system. It is said that he gets over 60,000 pieces of mail a year, much of it fan mail from young people in the hopes of joining the Family. He currently resides in California's Corcoran State Prison.
Aftermath
On September 5, 1975, another member of the Family, Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, unsuccessfully attempted to assassinate U.S. President Gerald R. Ford.
System of a Down wrote the song ATWA on their Toxicity album about the media's viewpoints on Manson. Many other musicians, such as Neil Young, have recorded songs related to Manson. Dan Bern wrote the song Krautmeyer http://home.earthlink.net/~usablues/archive/Krautmeyer.html speculating about what would have happened if Charles Manson's birth name had been Charles Krautmeyer. (Note: Manson's birth name was Maddox, not Krautmeyer as this song might lead you to believe)
See also
External links
- Charles Manson website by Sandra Good and Manson followers http://www.atwa.info
- Charles Manson and the Family http://www.charliemanson.com
- Cielo Drive and the Manson Murders http://www.cielodrive.com
Last updated: 02-03-2005 08:21:35
Last updated: 04-25-2005 03:06:01