Helter Skelter

by Vincent Bugliosi

It was so quiet, one of the killers would later say, you could almost hear the sound of ice rattling in cocktail shakers in the homes way down the canyon.

Cause of death: Multiple stab wounds of the chest and back, penetrating the heart, lungs, and liver, causing massive hemorrhage. Victim was stabbed sixteen times, five of which wounds were in and of themselves fatal.

It was an odd group, their leader, a guy named Charlie, apparently having convinced them that he was Jesus Christ.

Yet within twenty-four hours the police would decide there was no connection between the two sets of murders.

It listed eleven suspects, the last of whom was one MANSON, CHARLES

As Virginia understood it, there was this group, these chosen people, that Charlie had brought together, and they were elected, this new society, to go out, all over the country and all over the world, to pick out people at random and execute them, to release them from this earth. “You have to have a real love in your heart to do this for people,” Susan explained.

“The primary duty of a lawyer engaged in public prosecution is not to convict, but to see that justice is done…”

“He has no plans for release as he says he has nowhere to go.” The morning Charles Manson was to be freed, he begged the authorities to let him remain in prison. Prison had become his home, he told them. He didn’t think he could adjust to the world outside.

felt he could see and hear everything she did or said. Midway through the arraignment I looked at my watch. It had stopped. Odd. It was the first time I could remember that happening. Then I noticed that Manson was staring at me, a slight grin on his face. It was, I told myself, simply a coincidence.

The irony was that Manson never considered himself a hippie, equating their pacifism with weakness.

For example, I didn’t want to go through the whole trial only to have some juror decide, “We can’t convict Manson of the five Tate murders because he wasn’t there. He was back at Spahn Ranch.”

For example: A, B, and C decide to rob a bank. A plans the robbery, B and C carry it out. Under the law, A, though he never entered the bank, is as responsible as B and C, I pointed out to the jury.

“Bugliosi,” he said, “you think I’m bad and I’m not.” “I don’t think you’re all bad, Charlie. For instance, I understand you love animals.” “Then you know I wouldn’t hurt anyone,” he said. “Hitler loved animals too, Charlie. He had a dog named Blondie, and from what I’ve read, Adolf was very kind to Blondie.”

“Because both Linda and Sadie told me you were,” I replied. “Now, Sadie doesn’t like me, Charlie, and she thinks you’re Jesus Christ. So why would she tell me this if it wasn’t true?” “Sadie’s just a stupid little bitch,” Manson said. “You know, I only made love to her two or three times. After she had her baby and lost her shape, I couldn’t have cared less about her. That’s why she told that story, to get attention. I would never personally harm anyone.” “Don’t give me that crap, Charlie, because I won’t buy it! What about Lotsapoppa? You put a bullet in his stomach.” “Well, yeah, I shot that guy,” Manson admitted. “He was going to come up to Spahn Ranch and get all of us. That was kinda in self-defense.”

When he was escorted into the courtroom, several gasped. On his forehead was a bloody X. Sometime the previous night he had taken a sharp object and carved the mark in his flesh. An explanation was not long forthcoming. Outside court his followers passed out a typewritten statement bearing his name: “I have X’d myself from your world…You have created the monster. I am not of you, from you, nor do I condone your unjust attitude toward things, animals, and people that you do not try to understand…I stand opposed to what you do and have done in the past…You make fun of God and have murdered the world in the name of Jesus Christ…My faith in me is stronger than all of your armies, governments, gas chambers, or anything you may want to do to me. I know what I have done. Your courtroom is man’s game. Love is my judge…”

“To Charles Manson, Helter Skelter, the title of one of their songs, meant the black man rising up and destroying the entire white race; that is, with the exception of Charles Manson and his chosen followers, who intended to escape from Helter Skelter by going to the desert and living in a bottomless pit, a place that Manson derived from Revelation 9, a chapter in the last book of the New Testament… “Evidence from several witnesses will show that Charles Manson hated black people, but that he also hated the white establishment, whom he called ‘pigs.’ “The word ‘pig’ was found printed in blood on the outside of the front door to the Tate residence. “The words ‘death to pigs,’ ‘helter skelter,’ and ‘rise’ were found printed in blood inside the LaBianca residence. “The evidence will show that one of Manson’s principal motives for these seven savage murders was to ignite Helter Skelter; in other words, start the black-white revolution by making it look as though the black man had murdered these seven Caucasian victims. In his twisted mind, he thought this would cause the white community to turn against the black community, ultimately leading to a civil war between blacks and whites, a war which Manson told his followers would see bloodbaths in the streets of every American city, a war which Manson predicted and foresaw the black man as winning. “Manson envisioned that black people, once they destroyed the entire white race, would be unable to handle the reins of power because ...

“What about Charles Manson’s followers, the other defendants in this case, Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel, and Leslie Van Houten? “The evidence will show that they, along with Tex Watson, were the actual killers of the seven Tate-LaBianca victims. “The evidence will also show that they were very willing participants in these mass murders, that by their overkill tactics—for instance, Rosemary LaBianca was stabbed forty-one times, Voytek Frykowski was stabbed fifty-one times, shot twice, and struck violently over the head thirteen times with the butt of a revolver—these defendants displayed that even apart from Charles Manson, murder ran through their own blood.”

Kanarek had interrupted my opening statement nine times with objections, all of which the Court had overruled.

Over the weekend, Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel, and Leslie Van Houten lit matches, heated bobby pins red-hot, then burned X marks on their foreheads, after which they ripped open the burnt flesh with needles, to create more prominent scars. When the jurors were brought into court Monday morning, the X’s were the first thing they saw—graphic evidence that when Manson led, the girls followed. A day or so later Sandy, Squeaky, Gypsy, and most of the other Family members did the same thing. As new disciples joined the group, this became one of the Family rituals, complete to tasting the blood as it ran down their faces.

Realizing very early how damaging this was, Manson had remarked, loud enough for both Linda and the jury to hear, “You’ve already told three lies.” Linda, looking directly at him, had replied, “Oh, no, Charlie, I’ve spoken the truth, and you know it.” By the time I had finished my direct examination of Linda Kasabian on the afternoon of July 30, I had the feeling the jury knew it too. When

Therefore, I’d brought out, on direct, Linda’s sexual permissiveness and her use of LSD and other drugs.* Prepared to destroy her credibility with these revelations, the defense found itself going over familiar ground. In doing so, they sometimes even strengthened our case. It was Fitzgerald, Krenwinkel’s defense attorney, not the prosecution, who brought out that during the period Linda was at Spahn, “I was not really together in myself…I was extremely impressionistic…I let others put ideas in me” and—even more important—that she feared Manson.

Often his questions backfired, as when he asked Linda: “Do you remember who you slept with on August 8?” A. “No.” Q. “On the tenth?” A. “No, but eventually I slept with all the men.” Time and again Linda volunteered information which could have been considered damaging, yet, coming from her, somehow seemed only honest and sincere. She was so open that it caught Fitzgerald off guard. Avoiding the word “orgy,” he asked her, regarding the “love scene that took place in the back house…did you enjoy it?” Linda frankly answered: “Yeah, I guess I did. I will have to say I did.” If possible, at the end of Fitzgerald’s cross-examination Linda Kasabian looked even better than she had at the end of the direct.

It was Monday, August 3, 1970. I was on my way back to court from lunch, a few minutes before 2 P.M., when I was abruptly surrounded by newsmen. They were all talking at once, and it was a couple of seconds before I made out the words: “Vince, have you heard the news? President Nixon just said that Manson’s guilty!”

Apparently intent on implying that I had coached Linda in her testimony, he asked: “Do you recall what Mr. Bugliosi said to you during your first meeting?” A. “Well, he has always stressed for me to tell the truth.” Q. “Besides the truth, I’m talking about.” As if anything else were important. Q. “Did Mr. Bugliosi ever tell you that some of your statements were wrong, or some of your answers were not logical, or did not make sense?” A. “No, I told him; he never told me.” Q. “The fact that you were pregnant, wasn’t that the reason that you stayed outside [the Tate residence] instead of going inside to participate?” A. “Whether I was pregnant or not, I would never have killed anybody.” Shinn gave up after only an hour and a half. Linda’s testimony remained unshaken.

“God, Vince,” he exclaimed, “did it ever occur to you that if Barrett had revoked Manson’s parole in, say, April of 1969, Sharon and the others would probably still be alive today?”

“No. As a matter of fact, I believe I told Sharon Tate I didn’t have any mercy for her.” Susan went on to explain that she knew what she was doing “was right when I was doing it.” She knew this because, when you do the right thing, “it feels good.” Q. “How could it be right to kill somebody?” A. “How could it not be right when it is done with love?” Q. “Did you ever feel any remorse?” A. “Remorse? For doing what was right to me?” Q. “Did you ever feel sorry?” A. “Sorry for doing what was right to me? I have no guilt in me.” Fitzgerald looked beaten. By bringing out her total lack of remorse, he had made it impossible for the defense to persuasively argue that she was capable of rehabilitation.

“So killing seven people is just business as usual, no big deal, is that right, Sadie?” A. “It wasn’t at the time. It was just there to do.” I asked her how she felt about the victims. She reponded, “They didn’t even look like people…I didn’t relate to Sharon Tate as being anything but a store mannequin.” Q. “You have never heard a store mannequin talk, have you, Sadie?” A. “No, sir. But she just sounded like an IBM machine…She kept begging and pleading and pleading and begging, and I got sick of listening to her, so I stabbed her.” Q. “And the more she screamed, the more you stabbed, Sadie?” A. “Yes. So?” Q. “And you looked at her and you said, ‘Look, bitch, I have no mercy for you.’ Is that right, Sadie?” A. “That’s right. That’s what I said then.” BUGLIOSI “No further questions.”

“And I had a knife in my hands, and she took off running, and she ran—she ran out through the back door, one I never even touched, I mean, nobody got fingerprints because I never touched that door…and I stabbed her and I kept stabbing her.” Q. “What did you feel after you stabbed her?” A. “Nothing—I mean, like what is there to describe? It was just there, and it’s like it was right.”

Tweed claimed he knew of one case where a youth while under LSD heard voices which told him to kill his mother and his grandmother, and he did just that. On the basis of this single, unidentified case, Tweed concluded that “people may perform homicidal acts while under the influence of LSD.” It was also his opinion, he said, that LSD probably caused brain damage.

I then brought out that the two men had written a paper entitled “The Problems of LSD in Emotional Disorders,” in which they concluded that “there is no scientific demonstrable evidence of organic brain damage caused by LSD.”

We now had a perfect score. Manson had called Sadie, Katie, and Leslie to the stand in an attempt to exonerate him. Instead, I had now proven that each of the three had previously told others that Manson was behind these murders.

“she was always fearful that they would be arrested for what they had done, but ‘Charlie said nobody could touch us.’” This latter statement proved that Katie was well aware of the consequences of her acts.

“Have you ever read a reported case in the literature of LSD of any individual who committed murder while under the influence of LSD?” A. “No. Suicide, but not murder.” As I’d later ask the jury, could Watson, Atkins, Krenwinkel, and Van Houten, all four, be exceptions?

“At the present time, Doctor, do you feel any of these three female defendants are psychotic?” A. “No.” Q. “In your opinion, do you feel that any of these three female defendants have ever been psychotic?” A. “No.”

“Then, from a psychiatric standpoint, I take it that in your opinion none of these three female defendants are presently insane nor have they ever been insane, is that correct?” A. “That is correct.” As far as the psychiatric testimony was concerned, with Hochman’s reply the ball game was over.

Cathy stated: “You know, I am willing to kill for a brother, we all are.” Q. “What do you mean by that?” A. “In other words, to get a brother out of jail, I would kill. I would have killed that night except I did not go…” Q. “What prevented you from going with them, if anything?” A. “Just the fact that they didn’t need me.” Apparently Fitzgerald hoped to soften the harshness of her reply when he asked her: “Have you killed anybody to get someone out of jail?” With a strange little smile, Cathy turned her head and, looking directly at the jury, replied: “Not yet.”

“When Katie told you that they had murdered these people, did this disturb you at all?” A. “Actually it had very little effect on me because I knew why they had done it.” Q. “So it didn’t upset you?” A. “No, it definitely didn’t upset me.” Q. “You didn’t decide that you would rather not continue living with murderers?” A. “Obviously not.” Q. “Were you upset that you didn’t get to go along with them?” A. “I wanted to go.”

“Well, Charles Manson has already been convicted. He has already been convicted of seven counts of first degree murder and one count of conspiracy to commit murder. “The difficulty in your decision, as I see it, is not whether these defendants deserve the death penalty, ladies and gentlemen. In view of the incredibly savage, barbaric, and inhuman murders they committed, the death penalty is the only proper verdict.” I then stated the very heart of my argument: “If this case were not a proper case for the imposition of the death penalty, no case ever would be. In view of what they did, life imprisonment would be the greatest gift, the greatest charity, the greatest handout, as it were, ever given.

“These defendants are not human beings, ladies and gentlemen. Human beings have a heart and a soul. No one with a heart and a soul could have done what these defendants did to these seven victims. “These defendants are human monsters, human mutations. “There is only one proper ending to the Tate-LaBianca murder trial,” I concluded, “verdicts of death for all four defendants.”

“These weren’t typical murders, ladies and gentlemen. This was a one-sided war where unspeakable atrocities were committed. If all of these defendants don’t receive the death penalty, the typical first-degree murderer only deserves ten days in the County Jail.”

“He did not say that we are all capable of murder. There is a vast difference between killing—as in justifiable homicide, self-defense, or defense of others—and murder. And no one can convince me, ladies and gentlemen, that all of us are capable of murdering strangers for no reason whatsoever like these three female defendants did.

“A more comprehensive description of her condition will necessitate further study. But at this time we might suggest the possibility that she may be suffering from a condition of folie à famille, a kind of shared madness within a group situation.” D R. JOEL HOCHMAN, in his psychiatric report on Susan Atkins

“I lived with Charlie for one year straight and on and off for two years. I know Charlie. I know him inside and out. I became Charlie. Everything I once was, was Charlie. There was nothing left of me anymore. And all of the people in the Family, there’s nothing left of them anymore, they’re all Charlie too.”* PAUL WATKINS

“We are what you have made us. We were brought up on your TV. We were brought up watching ‘Gunsmoke,’ ‘Have Gun Will Travel,’ ‘FBI,’ ‘Combat.’ ‘Combat’ was my favorite show. I never missed ‘Combat.’”* BRENDA

“Whatever is necessary, you do it. When somebody needs to be killed, there’s no wrong. You do it, and then you move on. And you pick up a child and you move him to the desert. You pick up as many children as you can and you kill whoever gets in your way. That is us.”* S ANDY

“If you find an apple that has a little spot on it, you cut out that spot.” SQUEAKY

“You just better hope I never get out.” BOBBY BEAUSOLEIL

For their part in the attempted murder of prosecution witness Barbara Hoyt, four of the five defendants served ninety days in the County Jail, while the fifth escaped punishment entirely.

Judge Stephen Stothers granted the motion, and on April 16, 1971, he sentenced four of the five defendants—Lynette Fromme, aka Squeaky; Steve Grogan, aka Clem; Catherine Share, aka Gypsy; and Dennis Rice—to ninety days in the County Jail. Since they had already served fifteen days, they were back on the streets in seventy-five days.

The fifth defendant, Ruth Ann Moorehouse, aka Ouisch, the girl who actually gave Barbara Hoyt the LSD-laden hamburger, got off scot-free. When it came time for sentencing, she failed to appear. Although a bench warrant was issued for her arrest and she was known to be living in Carson City, Nevada, the DA’s Office decided it wasn’t worth the trouble to extradite her.