The Tides Of Fate

I interviewed Aaron Stovitz over dinner two years ago... he is retired, looks the same though the hair is gray, and lives in Laguna. His son Ken is an agent at Creative Artists Agency in Los Angeles and proudly displays an actual court artist's rendering of dad at the TLB trial. Aaron is very much a gentleman, who had a successful and long career as an LA District Attorney.

We covered the usual stuff. As most of you know, he never subscribed to the Helter Skelter theory and actually opposed BUGliosi swinging that way. He told a story that I have never been able to confirm about BUG's wife, when Bug ran for DA, actually filing charges against him for mental cruelty or something. Never heard it anywhere else.

He opened his mouth too much with the press which pushed him off the case and pushed Bug to the forefront with his insane ramblings.

The best part of the discussion was about Kasabian. I told him about her further life of crime and he was not surprised, describing her as the "lesser of many evils." They refused to actually sign her immunity deal until she had testified in every single trial- they thought she might wimp out and if she did they were gonna lock her ass up but good. He thought she was pretty stoned out, a true sixties casualty who was not a good mother (look at Lady Dangerous to see he was right) but that "Vince really got mileage out of her. Once she was done testifying the trial was really over."

I paid the check, I thanked him for the time and he said, "Hey Son, your interest is grand, and you aren't wrong about Manson being wronged, at least legally, but before you go get too stressed, ask yourself- don't you think he's happier now that Vince made him who he is? "

And then he rode off into the night.