On Tuesday, one of those three followers, Leslie Van Houten, was released from a California prison after serving more than 50 years for the 1969 killings of Leno LaBianca, a grocer in Los Angeles; and his wife, Rosemary.The Associated Press is republishing a version of its original report about the conviction by Linda Deutsch, who covered the trial that lasted from late 1969 into 1971.
The prosecutor said he has about 50 witnesses ready for the penalty trial. The defense has said it will put on a case as long or longer than the state’s, seeking life imprisonment instead of the death penalty on a contention there still is doubt as to guilt.Under California law the same jury that returns a first-degree murder-conspiracy conviction must meet again at a second trial to fix the penalty.
The defendants, banished from court Dec. 22 for shouting, filed in smiling and chatting. The women wore prison uniforms with ribbons in their long hair. Manson wore a rumpled white shirt with a blue scarf. His hair was disheveled and he sported a new goatee. “We lost the case when we lost our change of venue. We thought we had as much chance to win the case in Los Angeles as they had of winning the Sam Sheppard.” The reference was to a Cleveland doctor convicted in the 1950s of slaying his wife in a sensational case. The Supreme Court ultimately overturned the conviction.
“She reacted a lot better than I did,” he said of the verdict. “She didn’t turn a hair. She seemed more solicitous of me.”