Witness to Evil: The Inside Story of the Tate/La Bianca Murder Trial

by George Bishop

STATED FIRST PRINTING (NOT PRICE CLIPPED $6.95)~THE DUST JACKET HAS WEAR BUT EVERYTHING CAN STILL BE SEEN AND READ~AN EXTREMELY CLEAN AND BRIGHT READING COPY OF THIS BOOK

Genres: Nonfiction, True Crime

431 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1972

About the author

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Reviews

[Lee Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

"...Miss Bijou Nolan, an attorney and former co-worker of Fitzgerald's in the public defender's office who possesses, in addition to a good legal mind, what surely must rank as one of the finest pairs of legs in the history of public defense..."

George Bishop is no great writer. Ridiculous observations such as the one above are sprinkled throughout this book. But for a day-to-day account of the Tate/La Bianca murder trial, you can't beat it. I don't recall Helter Skelter giving me such a strong sense of what an obfuscating idiot defense attorney Irving Kanarek was. And this book, instead of the iconic whited-out crime scene photos of Bugliosi's book, has great mid-century style courtroom sketches, both of the crime scene and the trial. I learned (or re-remembered, maybe) some interesting things.

A must read for Manson trial junkies.

[Fishface · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a hard slog at times because so much of it was made up of court transcripts. It was worth it to learn about all the low-grade warfare between the many, many attorneys and judges on this case. This is the only book I've found that has anything substantial about the courtroom work of Ronald Hughes. I even learned a little something about the jurors. This book provides a slant on the Helter Skelter trial you won't find elsewhere.