...Truth has not special time of its own. Its hour is now — always and indeed then most truly when it seems unsuitable to actual circumstances. (Albert Schweitzer).....the truth about these murders has not been uncovered, but we believe the time for the truth is now. Join us, won't you?
Charles Manson follower allegedly tried to smuggle phone to killer
By Richard Winton
March 26, 2013, 9:22 a.m.
A follower of Charles Manson has been arrested for allegedly trying to smuggle a cellphone to the cult leader at Corcoran State Prison
Craig Carlisle Hammond, 63, was arrested Sunday on charges of
possession of an illegal communication device, attempting to bring a
cellphone into a prison and conspiracy, said Terry Thornton, a
California Department of Corrections and Rehabiltation spokeswoman.
Hammond, a retiree, was searched and subsequently arrested at 3:35
p.m. and taken to a King County Jail, where he was released four hours
later on $30,000. He is due in court next month.
Thornton said the device was a wrist watch cellphone and was
discovered by guards after Hammond entered an area where he possession
of such devices is prohibited.
Hammond, who goes by the name Gray Wolf given to him by Manson, is a
regular visitor to Manson, the mastermind of the one the most notorious
killing sprees in U.S. history -- the Tate-Bianca murders in Los
Angeles.
Manson has been caught with a cellphone
in his cell twice. Manson called people in California, New Jersey and
Florida with an LG flip phone found under his prison bunk in March
2009. For the offense, 30 days were added to his sentence. The cult
leader was again found with a cellphone in his cell Jan. 6, 2011.
That fall, Gov. Jerry Brown
signed a Senate bill that makes it a misdemeanor to possess an
unauthorized cellphone in prison or to try to take one into a prison.
Violators face up to six months in jail and a fine of up to $5,000.
The proliferation of cellphones in prisons is a significant public
safety concern, officials say. Inmates have run street gangs from behind
bars, intimidated witnesses and orchestrated assaults on guards, they
said. In 2011, 15,000 cellphones were found inside prisons.
Manson, 78, is technically eligible for parole but will almost certainly die in prison for ordering the ritualistic murders of Sharon Tate and six other people in Los Angeles in the summer of 1969.
Manson sees few visitors, but Hammond is among his regulars. Hammond
controls a copyright on Manson's music and is a self-described follower
of the the inmate.
A Manson website maintained by followers and believers of Manson's
ATWA group --an acronym for Air, Trees, Water, Animals -- reported that
Gray Wolf was detained at Level 4 visitation entrance. According to the
website, Manson was meeting with another friend when Gray Wolf was
detained by guards. Manson and the two visitors were subsequently
searched and the two visitors also consented to their vehicles being
searched. Gray Wolf was then taken into custody and asked for a lawyer,
according to the website.
Look at this guy. Like it or not, he's an American icon.
No American madman has a legend as nuanced as Manson's. That has everything to do with Vincent Bugliosi's definitive chronicle of the Manson Family, their murders and their trial. To read 1974's Helter Skelter is to obsess over Helter Skelter is to cultivate a lifelong interest in Manson and his once-petulant, now-repentant acolytes.
That book taught us that he was a bad guy, who despite (allegedly? probably?) suggesting to his cult that they perform murders so infamous and shocking that they prematurely ended the '60s 43 years ago today, didn't make a single stab or cut August 9, 1969 or the following night in what are generally referred to as the Tate-LaBianca murders.
I can only imagine how shocking those crimes were at the time, how they tore down other iconography in an acid nightmare that irrevocably damaged the image of the peace-loving hippie. I know that despising Manson wholesale is a reasonable reaction. Three years ago, to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Tate-LaBianca murders, Los Angeles magazine ran an oral history that described Manson as "an enduring symbol of unfathomable evil." That is the truth.
But for someone to whom the '60s never existed in the first place, someone who entered a world that was already obsessed with serial killers and other mortal boogie men, someone who saw Charles Manson frequently on television during his childhood in the '80s and thought, "What the fuck?" even though he was too young to say "fuck" out loud without getting punished with cocktail sauce on his tongue, I know that it's possible to regard Manson differently. I came to know much later than I could have, even – I didn't read Helter Skelter until a few summers ago. It's a relic of its time, so I was horrified as much as I was supposed to be. I would read it late at night in my living room, certain that someone was going to break through my apartment's back window, which was right off of the fire escape. That only added to the effect.
As much as I admire the terrifying ingenuity in the Manson-birthed concept of creepy crawling (when the Manson Family would break into homes to rearrange furniture or watch people sleeping), it wasn't until post-Skelter research that I approached an appreciation of what Manson has to offer. Or a portion of it, at any rate. I blame modernity. Reality TV and general cultural narcissism have conditioned us to appreciate characters (especially villains) and, man, is that guy a character. Man, is he a villain. But not only that, he's a performance artist, a very contemporary celebrity whose true art is giving interviews. In this respect, among his very few peers are Madonna and Amy Sedaris, whose Jerri Blank character often resembles Manson in mannerism and affect.
Several clips of him doing absolutely crazy things with words and his face from the '80s (many of them included in the montage above) have racked up millions of hits on YouTube – if video had the viral capacity then that it does now, his profile, his cult, his legend would have undoubtedly been so much higher. We would barely need to question his appeal.
Our culture puts a premium on extreme human behavior, and to watch Manson go off and sputter his free associative efrannis booj pooch boo jujube is thrilling. Good nonsense is hard to find. He invokes images of "staunch" and "upstanding" parrots and pockets full of "everything you can eat." He calls Geraldo Rivera "Mr. G." He explains the swastika on his forehead (which alone makes him understandably impossible to look at for particularly sensitive people) as not a sign of affiliation with the Nazi party, but with his Nazi party: "It means I've been locked up in here since 1943, that I'm standing behind the judges in Nuremberg." A very loud facet of our culture loves things for being terrible – to watch Charles Manson in 2012 is to revel in the concept of so-bad-it's-good where the bad is actual evil.
In 1987, when Penny Daniels asked Manson about what draws people to him, he leaped from his seat, performed a display that was part mime show, part interpretive dance and boasted, "I'm brand new. Everything I do is always brand new." Indeed, this unpredictability is key to his appeal.
Manson lied and told contradictory stories. Much of his clan did the same throughout the years to the point where it's best for all of our heads to just take Helter Skelter as gospel – it's bound to be closer to the truth than any other involved party's narrative. (In that sense the Manson Family was like the first reality TV ensemble cast – a bunch of liars telling lies to create this fog of a story.) "There was no such thing as the Manson family. It was a musical group called Family Jams!" Manson claimed at one point during the '80s. "I've done nothing but play the guitar," he said at another to disavow any wrongdoing. He also said, "I was born 1,000."
Nonsense wasn't the only thing that came out of his mouth. The roller-coaster effect comes from him often starting paragraphs in a semi-reasonable manner so that you can at least see why his mind is going to where it is, only to meltdown mid-thesis. However, he was really onto something when he commented on his celebrity, which the series of interviews in the '80s maintained and enlivened. "You're creating a legend, you're creating a beast, you're creating whatever you are judging yourselves with into the word Mason," he said. While that media coverage was understandable given the cultural weight of his crimes and his captivating persona, it served to repeatedly feed this beast, to put on a platform someone ravenous for attention. Of all the crazy things Manson said, "I'm not an entertainer, I don't entertain," really might have been the craziest.
It's liberating to laugh at a monster, to understand that every man has a capacity to be more than and contradictory to the thing that defines him. The taboo of Manson, too, boosts his appeal – appreciating him is like the intoxicating spiral of laughing in church. Perhaps it would be better to ignore him entirely, to move on with our culture and do our best to pretend like his heinous crimes never happened. But they did, and while it may provide no comfort for those to whom it matters the most – the families directly affected by his murders who still attend his and the remaining incarcerated Manson girls' parole hearings – it is somewhat therapeutic for those of us on the outside to experience that different face of Manson. His ability to entertain is his small part of good that he's contributed to the world. It is his silver lining, the sole thing that keeps his entire existence from being in vain. The world would have been a better place without Manson, but since he had to exist, his roles as the nutjob to end all nutjobs can be read as something like compensation. It's not an even trade in the slightest, but a little bit of cultural rehabilitation is better than none at all.
Two men relate to same haunting specter -- Charles Manson By Miguel Marquez, CNN updated 1:56 AM EDT, Tue April 24, 2012 Watch this video STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Two men grapple with same heavy burden -- they might both descend from Charles Manson Cage fighter Jason Freeman says his family never discussed his infamous grandfather L.A. musician Matthew Roberts learns Manson may have fathered him in a 1967 orgy Moment of truth with DNA evidence: Are the two bound through the blood of Manson?
Cincinnati (CNN) -- Charles Manson casts a long shadow. No one knows that better than his grandson, Jason Freeman, who is speaking out for the first time about growing up under, what he calls, a "family curse" started by Manson and his so-called "Manson family."
"I'm personally, I'm coming out," says the 6-foot-2 kickboxer and cage fighter. Freeman, whose father killed himself in 1993, is "coming out," he says, because he wants the real Manson family to stop hiding from a name that still has the power to evoke fear.
Today, Freeman wants to understand his roots and himself a bit better, two things denied him as a child. He knew from a young age that Charles Manson was his grandfather, but it never registered till one day in eighth-grade history class, said Freeman. Our teacher " ... was talking about Charles Manson and I'm looking around like, are there people staring at me?" Charles Manson: The infamous inmate Charles Manson: The infamous inmate Man: I may be Charles Manson's son
Forbidden from talking about Charles Manson to his school friends lest they tease and taunt him, Freeman always felt different from the other kids. Even behind closed doors and with his own family, talk about Charles Manson was discouraged. He was not permitted to ask his grandmother, Rosalie, about Charles Manson, the man she married in 1955. It was a ghostly elephant roaming through his life.
More than anything, Freeman wants to connect with the father he knew only through an occasional letter or gift. He believes his father, who changed his name to Jay White, purposely stayed away from him, not wanting to tarnish his childhood in the same way his had been. "He just couldn't let it go," reckons Freeman. "He couldn't live it down. He couldn't live down who his father was."
Death on a desolate highway
Jay White, who was cursed with the name Charles Manson Jr., killed himself on June 29, 1993, on a desolate section of highway in Burlington, Colorado, just west of the Kansas state line.
The death certificate offers few clues as to why there and what finally pushed him over the edge. The document indicates it was about 10:15 a.m. when he died from a "self inflicted gunshot wound to the head" at "exit 438 on interstate 70." Charles Manson\'s grandson, Jason Freeman, provides a DNA sample to determine if another man is also related to Manson. Charles Manson's grandson, Jason Freeman, provides a DNA sample to determine if another man is also related to Manson.
Freeman, who wrestles, fights and suffers the pain of tattoos in his off-time, makes a living working on oil rigs in western Pennsylvania. He is a classically tough guy. But when it comes to the father he never met and when he thinks of what he went through as a child, he tears up.
When asked what he'd like his father to know, Freeman gets emotional and, fighting back tears, he whispers, "I want him to know ... he missed out on a lot."
Specifically, he wishes his father were there to enjoy his grandchildren and see the life he has built for himself.
"I see my kids, you know, and that's kinda where I get shook up," he says the tears rolling. "I would hate to see them grow up without a father. That's important. Very important."
Freeman wishes he could reverse time and tell his father on the stretch of Interstate 70 back in June of 1993 that whatever he was feeling at the moment would pass and a better life lay ahead.
Another Manson offspring, another search
The desire to know one's father and to understand oneself is the same force, the same primal instinct, driving Matthew Roberts, a 44-year-old Los Angeles musician. Roberts, who was adopted as an infant, sought out his birth parents in 1998.
Through an adoption agency, he found his birth mother; according to Roberts, she was a reclusive and psychologically troubled woman named Terri living in Wisconsin. As they got to know each other, Terri eventually dropped a small bomb on Roberts that set him on a 14-year search for his father.
Terri told him that Charles Manson was his father and that she had met Manson in San Francisco in 1967 at an orgy. He was one of four men there, and she was certain Manson had impregnated her.
Roberts didn't believe her except that he looked shockingly similar to Manson.
He then wrote to Manson in prison, explaining the situation. To Robert's surprise, prisoner B33920 wrote back. Manson, in his frantic style and chicken scratch penmanship, confirmed to Roberts that he was at the 1967 orgy and remembered his mother, Roberts said. He related stories that his mother had told him that only she, or his father, would know. What seemed like fantasy was fast becoming reality.
Roberts twice tried to get a DNA match with genetic material from Charles Manson, but the samples were contaminated.
But says Dr. Michael Baird, chief science officer at DNA Diagnostics Center in Fairfield, Ohio, there is another way to establish the family link. If Matthew Roberts and Jason Freeman are related, they will have an exact copy of Charles Manson's Y chromosome. "The male line is easier to compare," said Baird, "because the Y chromosome stands out so strong. We can get a very good correlation if the two are related.
So curious were both men to once and for all solve the mystery, CNN took the extraordinary step to have both men's DNA taken and the results compared.
A match seemed likely.
Same members of notorious family?
The men seem predisposed to being related. Their lives run along parallel tracks.
Both are drawn to fame and fortune. Roberts is lead singer of a band called New Rising Son. Freeman is a fighter who goes by the name Freebird.
But both men have also had to settle for doing more conventional jobs to pay the bills. Freeman has his oil rig job; Roberts is a DJ at the Blue Zebra Cabaret in Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley.
Both men have self-published their own books. Freeman's "Knocking out the Devil" and Roberts' "The First Rays of the New Rising Sun."
But the question remained: Is Charles Manson the common denominator in the lives of these two men?
It took DNA Diagnostic Center 48 hours to resolve a mystery that Roberts chased for 14 years. With both men in the same room, Baird told the men what they found.
"We did a battery of DNA tests. We studied your DNA along several points, and we have concluded you do not share a common biological ancestry."
The news dropped on the room like a fact etched in lead. Jason Freeman exclaimed "holy cow." Freeman hoped to gain an uncle and perhaps a bit more insight into his family and his father's life.
Matthew Roberts was visibly shaken as though he had just been robbed. Roberts was upset.
"Now there's no chance of knowing who my father is," said Roberts. "That's the only lead I had, so now I have no chance of meeting or knowing my biological father."
Most people would be overjoyed to discover that Charles Manson wasn't related to them, but Roberts now feels his 14-year search for a father has ended in a cul de sac, without definition and not sure where to go next.
Such is the power of wanting to know where we come from and trying to make sense of our present lives by knowing our past. For both men, the search continues.
Charles Manson denied parole, with next parole hearing set for 2027
By Michael Martinez, CNN
April 12, 2012 -- Updated 0941 GMT (1741 HKT)
Corcoran, California (CNN) -- Notorious killer Charles Manson, 77, was denied parole Wednesday after a California parole panel "could find nothing good as far as suitability" for his being paroled, a commissioner said.
Manson didn't show up for his parole hearing, which was held at a state prison in Corcoran, California, where he is serving a life sentence.
Manson's next parole hearing was scheduled for 15 years from now, meaning he could die in prison.
California Board of Parole Hearings Commissioner John Peck said that Manson has accumulated 108 serious disciplinary violations in prison since 1971 and that he has shown no indication of remorse for his nine murder convictions.
Manson hasn't participated in any self-help programs or vocational training, Peck said. Manson also hasn't shown any parole plans, he said.
Peck also cited Manson's statement to a psychologist in a prison interview on November 2, 2011, in which Manson stated:
"I am special. I am not like the average inmate. I have put five people in the grave. I've been in prison most of my life. I'm a very dangerous man," Manson told the psychologist, according to a report read aloud by Peck during the hearing.
Those statements marked a change from Manson's past denials of having murdered nine people in 1969, and the statements showed some insight into his crimes, Peck said, reading from the report.
But two-member parole panel still found the statements troubling, denying him parole and scheduling his next hearing for 15 years from now, the maximum allowed under law, Peck said.
That would put Manson at age 92 for his next hearing, unless he petitions the board for an earlier hearing.
Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Patrick Sequeira, who opposed Manson's parole at the hearing, said Manson is likely to die in prison. Sequeira said he didn't know which "five people" Manson was referring to in his statement to the psychologist.
"When you think a person will be 92 years old, it's very likely that there will be no further parole hearings for Mr. Manson," Sequeira told reporters after the 80-minute hearing concluded.
"He does not deserve to be returned to society," the prosecutor added. "He has a history of refusing to cooperate, not only with psychologists for evaluations, but also for treatment."
DeJon R. Lewis, Manson's state-appointed attorney, who has never met his client, said he didn't know why Manson didn't show up for the hearing. Manson hasn't appeared at any of his parole hearings during the past 15 years.
Manson didn't come out of his cell to participate in an interview with Lewis a month ago, Lewis told the parole panel.
"Quite frankly, I don't think he could have helped himself today by speaking on the record," Lewis told reporters after the hearing.
Manson now has been denied parole 12 times, authorities said.
Manson was initially sentenced to death for the grisly 1969 slayings of pregnant actress Sharon Tate and eight others by a group of his followers -- called his "family" -- as part of what prosecutors said was an attempt to incite an apocalyptic race war between whites and blacks during the country's massive social unrest.
Manson's death sentence was changed to life in prison after California's death penalty was overturned for a period during the 1970s.
Manson and his family staged crime scenes to appear as if African-Americans or the Black Panthers committed the murders, Sequeira told the panel. He called the stabbing and shooting deaths "domestic terror."
After the race war, Manson and his followers would emerge from their desert retreat "to rule the world," Sequeira told the panel. Manson and his followers believed the Beatles' "White Album" predicted such an apocalyptic war, Sequeira told the panel.
Debra Tate, the sister of Sharon Tate, who attended Wednesday's hearing, told the parole panel that she believed Manson declined to attend the proceeding because he didn't want to hear her or any other victim's impact statement.
"He clearly does not want to be released into the public," Tate told the parole board.
After Manson was denied parole, with his next hearing scheduled for 2027, Tate was "elated," she told reporters. She has been attending Manson's parole hearings for the past 15 years.
"I was very pleased that we will never hear from Charlie Manson again," Tate told reporters. "I don't have to see him again. For this one, it's over."
Last October, Manson was found to be in possession of an inmate-manufactured weapon and he is now being held for 15 months in isolation in a secured housing unit in the California State Prison Corcoran, said Commissioner Gilbert Robles, the other member of the two-person parole panel.
In another incident, Manson was also found to be in a possession of a cell phone, another prison violation, the panel said.
Of the 108 serious discipline violations committed by Manson in prison, 35 of them were violent, Sequeira said.
Seven of the serious disciplinary violations occurred since Manson's previous parole hearing in 2007, the prosecutor said.
Manson has a history of manipulative and controlling behavior and has a record of mental health issues, including schizophrenia and a paranoid delusional disorder, Robles said.
Manson also had a history of using drugs such as LSD, amphetamines and barbiturates, but he hasn't participated in any self-help programs for the last 11 years, Robles said.
Manson dropped out of school at 3rd grade when he was 9 years old, and he spent years in boy reformatories. But he hasn't used his prison time to obtain a GED, which is an alternative high school diploma, according to Robles and Peck.
Manson posted an IQ of 121 in 1972, which is average to high average of intellectual functioning, Sequeira said
Charles Manson may not attend parole hearing, but lawyer will
April 6, 2012 | 1:24pm
Next week convicted killer Charles Manson is set for his 12th chance before the parole board, but so far the notorious inmate informed Corcoran State Prison officials that he is not planning to attend.
Corcoran State Prison spokeswoman Theresa Cisneros said so far Manson has said that he will not be showing up for his parole hearing but as is allowed he could have a last-minute change of heart. An attorney for Manson, however, is expected to attend, Cisneros said.
It could be his final chance at freedom as the state board under Marsy's Law can now deny parole for up to 15 years. Manson is now 77.
Manson refused to participate in his last parole hearing, in 2007, describing himself as a "prisoner of the political system." He also declined to participate in any psychological evaluations that were part of that process.
He and other members of his so-called family were convicted of killing actress Sharon Tate and six other people during a bloody rampage in the Los Angeles area during two August nights in 1969. He is housed in a special unit for inmates felt to be endangered by other inmates separated from the general prison population.
Twice in the last few years, guards at Corcoran State Prison said they found phones in the notorious killer's possession. Manson called people in California, New Jersey and Florida with an LG flip phone found under his prison bunk in March 2009, The Times reported in 2011. A second cellphone was found a year later. Thirty days were added to his sentence for the first offense, officials said.
Earlier, a homemade weapon was found in his possession.
Despite the prospect that Manson will be absent, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office said it would vigorously oppose Manson's release. "We consistently [opposed parole] and will continue to do so," spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons said.
A new photo released by the California prison system shows Manson with long, gray hair and a beard. It was released at the request of CNN.
In 2007 at his last parole hearing, the board concluded that Manson"continues to pose an unreasonable danger to others and may still bring harm to anyone he would come in contact with."
"Prosecutors said that Manson and his followers were trying to incite a race war that he believed was prophesied in the Beatles song "Helter Skelter."
Tate, the wife of director Roman Polanski, was 8½ months pregnant when she was killed at the couple's hilltop home in Benedict Canyon on Aug. 9, 1969.
Polanski was out of the country working on a film. Besides Tate, four others were stabbed and shot to death, including Jay Sebring, 35; Voytek Frykowski, 32; Abigail Folger, 25, a coffee heiress; and Steven Parent, 18, a friend of Tate's caretaker. The word "Pig" was written on the front door in blood.
The next night, Manson rode along with his cohorts to the Los Feliz home of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca, then left three of them to commit the murders. "Death to pigs" was written on a wall, and "Healter Skelter," which was misspelled, was written on the refrigerator door.
Manson was also convicted of the earlier murder of musician Gary Hinman in his Topanga Canyon home, and the slaying of former stuntman Donald "Shorty" Shea at the Spahn movie ranch in Chatsworth, where Manson had his commune.
Manson initially was sentenced to death. A 1972 ruling by the California Supreme Court found the state's death penalty law at the time unconstitutional and his death sentence was changed in 1977 to life in prison with the possibility of parole.
ALSO:
-- Richard Winton
Photos, from top: Charles Manson in a recent photo; Manson in a 1968 booking photo, bottom left; and at Corcoran State Prison in 2009. Credits: California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation via KTLA News; Ventura County Sheriff’s Department; Department of Corrections.
New photos of Charles Manson were taken in June 2011 because his appearance had changed, officials say.
The latest photos of notorious killer Charles Manson have been released by the California Department of Corrections, one week before his next parole hearing.
At the request of CNN, the department provided two photographs of Manson taken in June at the state prison in Corcoran, California. They show Manson, 77, with long, flowing gray hair, long beard and mustache.
Photos are taken of prisoners when they are transferred to other prisons or medical facilities or, in the case of Manson, when an inmate's appearance changes.
"He looks a lot different," department of corrections spokeswoman Terry Thornton said.
The last prison photo of Manson was released three years ago and showed Manson with the top of his head shaved. One distinguishing mark remains in the recent photos, a swastika tattoo on Manson's forehead.
A parole hearing is scheduled April 11 for Manson, who was initially sentenced to death for the 1969 slayings of actress Sharon Tate and six others by a group of his followers as part of what prosecutors said was an attempt to incite a race war. His death sentence was changed to life in prison after California's death penalty was overturned for a period during the 1970s.
Manson may choose not to attend the hearing. The last time he appeared at his parole hearing was 15 years ago. He has been denied parole 11 times.
Manson has not been a model inmate. A prosecutor who handled Manson's parole hearings told CNN in 2009 that Manson had a "laundry list of violations in prison."
In the past five years, Manson was punished for threatening a peace officer and for possession of a weapon, the latter happening in October when Manson was found with a sharpened pen, Thornton said.
Manson received notoriety when he was found to be in possession of a contraband cell phone ? twice ? the latest in January 2011. That incident is still under investigation. Prison officials said they tracked phone numbers in California, Oregon and Maine.
I do not believe this clown for a minute... ------------
CHARLES MANSON's 'Son' To Release NEW RISING SON Album - Oct. 27, 2011
California-based act NEW RISING SON has inked a deal with the French label Deadlight Entertainment. The group's new album, "Honey", will be released in January. A song from the CD, "Rain", is available for streaming in the YouTube clip below.
NEW RISING SON is the band of Matthew Roberts, who claims to be son of notorious killer Charles Manson.
Now 43 years old, Roberts — who bears a strong resemblance to Manson — says his biological mother, Terry, revealed that she had been raped by Manson in a drug-fueled orgy back in 1967.
After his birth, his young mother gave him up for adoption.
"I didn't want to believe it. I was frightened and angry. It's like finding out that Adolf Hitler is your father. I'm a peaceful person — trapped in the face of a monster," Roberts told The Sun newspaper.
Roberts says he has confirmed his mother's story through letters with Manson, The Sun reported.
"He sends me weird stuff and always signs it with his swastika. At first I was stunned and depressed. I wasn't able to speak for a day. I remember not being able to eat."
A year after Roberts' birth in 1968, Manson and his "family" of followers committed nine murders in Los Angeles over five weeks, including the stabbing of pregnant actress Sharon Tate. She was the wife of film director Roman Polanski.
Published on September 18, 1992 in the Journal Star:
I've been amazed by two facts regarding Charles Manson:
One of his first arrests was in Peoria.
There's scant information about his activities here.
In the Journal Star morgue, we have only two short stories about his local doings.
It's small potatoes compared to the Tate-LaBianco murders for which he's doing life at California State Prison in Corcoran, Calif.
The stories say that in 1949, the 16-year-old Manson and another youth broke into Waugh's Market, 3919 SW Adams, taking $1,200.
On March 22 of that year, Peoria police got a call someone was breaking into Earl Johnson Chevrolet on Main Street.
As a squad car pulled up to a side door, Manson, thinking the police car was his getaway car, ran from the building and jumped in the squad car.
Within seconds, he was looking at two pistols in his face. His reaction: "Ah, (expletive)! "
I wanted to know what brought him to Peoria and what he did here, so I dropped him a line.
I got his address from a California prison spokesman, who said he doubted I'd get a response. He was wrong.
My letter came back with messy yet legible cursive scrawl on the front, back and margins.
Though the spelling and grammar are poor, (Manson admits, "I dont spell . . . in English to good"), the response was cordial and devoid of expletives.
What follows is the letter, nearly unedited except for grammar and spelling changes. The parenthetical additions are mine.
____
I ran out of Boys Town, stole a car in Lincoln, Neb., and rolled to Idaho. I stole a hearse, (a) meat wagon, (and) ran with a kid.
Went to the Peoria housing projects, where his uncle ran the numbers out of Chicago.
We took a safe box -- 500 pounds -- and threw it off the bridge onto the railroad tracks and did a lot of underworld stuff.
That town's always been good to me. It's not too big like L.A. or St. Louis, yet big enough to get lost in.
The cops got me for a lot of money two times. I wrecked the hearse and they send me back to Indiana reform school.
I was never a real kid. I grew up myself, fast, and was raised by the underworld and monks and sisters in the boys' homes.
Me and Blackie buried a lot of rings, gold watches from a jewelry-store heist. I guess he went back and got it because we got split up.
Yeah, I did a lot of growing up in that town (Peoria) -- fast growing up. They put me in the jail last time I went through there. . . .
It may sound foolish, but that town has always been sweet for some reason.
____
I'm not sure where Manson and his buddy Blackie dumped the safe and buried the jewelry. Maybe Manson can clear this up.
He wrote that the Journal Star stories I had sent him weren't with the letter, and he'd like to see them.
"Send and I'll respond," he wrote.
What happened to the stories?
"It's very possible someone in the mailroom in the prison took the clips as a souvenir or whatever," wrote Sandra Good, who sent along Manson's letter to me.
I assume this is the same Sandra Good who was a member of the Manson family and once roomed with Squeaky Fromme, who once tried to kill Gerald Ford.
Why would Manson send the letter to her first, instead of directly to me? Maybe to save a stamp, or maybe she's his press agent.
I don't know; her number's unlisted. I'll ask about this in my next letters to both of them.
And maybe we'll find out if he left any hidden treasures during his short stay in Peoria.
Well, presidents get criticized by a lot of people.
But we don't think President Obama will be too upset over being attacked by Charles Manson.
Obama is a "slave to Wall Street," says Manson, the cult leader who is serving a life sentence for conspiracy in the 1969 murders of actress Sharon Tate and others (the basis for the book, Helter Skelter).
Manson tells Vanity Fair Spain: "I think Obama is an idiot for doing what he does. I do not know how you were able to cheat to get there. Not realize what they are doing. They are playing with him."
Manson reportedly spoke in Spanish.
So we don't know if his odd comments reflect a poor command of the language, a bad translation -- or simply the ravings of a very, very weird individual.
Charles Manson Breaks 20-Year Silence, Warns Of Global Warming
Charles Manson, the notorious cult leader, has broken his 20-year silence, and is speaking out about global warming.
Manson, now 76 years old, was accused of brainwashing members of his commune known as “The Manson Family." He was jailed 40 years ago for orchestrating the murders of eight people -- carried out at his instruction -- including Roman Polanski’s pregnant wife, Sharon Tate.
The Telegraph reports that during a recent interview with Spain’s Vanity Fair magazine, Manson warned of a danger that he thinks is greater than himself -- global warming.
Manson said, "Everyone's God and if we don't wake up to that there's going to be no weather because our polar caps are melting because we're doing bad things to the atmosphere… The automobiles and fossil fuels are destroying the atmosphere and we won't have air to breathe.”
Before trailing off, Manson added, 'If we don’t change that as rapidly as I’m speaking to you now, if we don’t put the green back on the planet and put the trees back that we’ve butchered, if we don’t go to war against the problem...'
According to The Daily Mail, Manson is also a founder of ATWA (Air Trees Water Animals or All The Way Alive). The mission statement warns of the planet’s destruction from pollution.
Charles Manson is likely not the advocate that environmentalists would like on their team to fight climate change. Will Manson's comments bring further controversy and political ammunition to an already hotly debated issue, or are they to be disregarded as the ramblings of a madman?
He's 76 years old, but infamous slaughterer of people Charles Manson is still quite the lady killer ... in fact, TMZ has learned Chuckie got an early Valentine's Day prison visit from a special female.
Officials at California State Prison, Corcoran tell us the visit occurred on Sunday morning -- the day before V-Day -- because no visitors are allowed during the week.
We're told Manson is "very choosy" about who he meets with -- and rarely accepts visits -- but for some reason, he gave the green light to spend time with a certain lucky lady.
Officials wouldn't reveal the woman's name -- but we're guessing she probably wasn't Jewish ...
40th Anniversary of Charles Manson conviction remembered in Wichita Falls
Continue reading on Examiner.com: 40th Anniversary of Charles Manson conviction remembered in Wichita Falls - Wichita Falls Law Enforcement
Forty years ago today prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi stood in a charged Los Angeles courtroom as the jury returned a verdict of guilty against Charles Manson for his involvement in a murder spree.
Bugliosi said in a Wichita Falls speech not long ago that the seven people would never have been murdered by the small band of people were it not for Manson.
Several Wichita Falls lawyers and other residents who heard Bugliosi's intriguing speech remembered the famed prosecutor referring to Manson as having so much influence over the actions of his followers that they were like robots he sent out to murder people.
Bugliosi also said during part of his Wichita Falls speech at the University Club that, "He would have killed as many people as he could have. That was his religion. His followers killed with relish."
The killing machine that Manson directed stabbed pregnant actress Sharon Tate to death along with four other people in the mansion she shared with director Roman Polanski.
The very next day Manson ordered his "band of robots" to murder affluent businessman Leno LaBianca and his wife Rosemary in their Los Angeles home.
Bugliosi also said that the Manson murders would never have occurred if the California prison system had followed Manson's request. When Charles Manson was in prison on other charges before the murders, he asked California officials to keep him locked up in prison. His request was denied, and he was released against his will.
Most Wichita Falls attorneys agree with Bugliosi that Manson will probably never be released from prison again.
Only last week Manson disciple Patricia Krenwinkle went before the parole board and requested her freedom at age 63.
The California parole board denied her request saying the crime was too serious.
Another disciple Susan Atkins died from cancer in prison after the parole board denied her request for mercy.
Evidence showed Susan Atkins stabbed Sharon Tate to death while the helpless actress begged for mercy.
"She asked me to spare her," Atkins said. "I told her I didn't have any mercy for her."
The parole board returned the favor by denying Atkins mercy.
Leslie Van Houten was involved with stabbing victim Rosemary LaBianca 16 times the next night. The former homecoming queen has been denied parole 19 times.
Manson was convicted on January 25, 1971.
Continue reading on Examiner.com: 40th Anniversary of Charles Manson conviction remembered in Wichita Falls - Wichita Falls Law Enforcement | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/law-enforcement-in-wichita-falls/40th-anniversary-of-charles-manson-conviction-remembered-wichita-falls?render=print#print#ixzz1CC7lkhGQ
CBS) California prison officials want to stop prison inmates like convicted murderer Charles Manson from reaching out and touching people with smuggled cell phones.
Prison guards confiscated the flip phone for the man behind one of the most infamous killing sprees in U.S. history after he placed calls and sent text messages to people in California, Florida, New Jersey and British Columbia, Canada, the Los Angeles Times reported Friday.
"It's troubling that he had a cell phone since he's a person who got other people to murder on his behalf," a spokeswoman for the state Department of Corrections told the Times.
The spokeswoman, Terry Thornton, also told the Times she didn't know if Manson ordered anyone during a call to commit a crime.
Authorities have urged the Federal Communications Commission to grant them authority to jam cell phone signals at prisons, but telecommunications lobbyists have told the agency that jamming would also block non-inmates near prisons from making calls.
Officials told the Times that prison inmates use the phones to run drug rings, intimidate witnesses and plan escapes yet being in possession of a cell phone isn't a crime in the Golden State.
President Obama signed into law during the summer a bill making smuggling cell phones into federal prisons a crime, but that law doesn't apply to state prisons, the Times reported. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a bill in September that would have fined people providing cell phones to prisoners $5,000, the Times reported.
In California prisons, authorities told the Times the number of cell phones confiscated has been on the rise from 1,400 in 2007, when confiscations were first recorded, to 8,675 thus far in 2010.
If Manson were properly advised, by his newly appointed advisor, he would, at the very commencement of his trial, do the following:
1) He would appeal for a trial away from Los Angeles County on the basis of a campaign of vilification being conducted against him by the media. He would stress the opinion of the U.S. Supreme Court in the Sheppard Case. 2) Manson should attack the California method of selecting the members of the Grand Jury. The selection of the Los Angeles Grand Jurors, for your information, is under the personal selection of the Superior Court Judges. In Jan. 1970, those judges announced the 1970 Grand Juries, whose average male age was sixty-eight years! The female members have an average of fifty-five.
An analysis of the ruling majority of these jurors shows that they belong to the WASP ethnic majority and tend to reflect the economic and social philosophy of the judges. Since the list of the jurors is highly secret and is not released to the public until the last possible moment, no citizen has the opportunity of investigating the background of these men and women who have the power to destroy a fellow human being by issuing a criminal indictment for whatever reason. The District Attorney can always find a reason. Thus, a Grand Juror can be a Nazi, a white supremacist, a Bircher, a Wallacite…he can have a passionate hatred for young people or for the color of your skin, or for the beliefs and convictions with which you have been associated. The background of the Grand Jury explains why no policeman has ever been indicted for a killing a member of a minority group. These jurors tend to believe that the cop has inalienable right to commit genocide under the banner of Law and Order. Grand Jurors are personal selectees of the judges. The judges can sleep well at night knowing that they can depend upon them to return the kind of verdict they want. This is why Manson must attack the method used by judges to select grand juries. The theory of the grand jury, as it evolved in England, and in the United States was that the members of the jury represented the over-all community—not just one ethnic group in the community. The average age of the members of the Constitutional Convention in 1779-1781 was 40 years. The average age of the 1970 Los Angeles County Grand Jury is sixty-three! And what a hell of a mess those old people have plunged the country into!
3) Manson should attack the method of selecting the members of the jury that will sit in judgment on his case. 4) Manson, if the District Attorney attempts to produce and read the Atkins $200,000 confession to the jury, should subpoena Lawrence Schiller, and Manson could and should compel Schiller to disclose and explain what, where, when and how monies were received by Atkins and Schiller for the “confession.” In view of the past interpretation of the “basic principles of American justice” by California Bar, Manson will probably lose on 1, 2, and 3. But if Manson does not, at the very beginning of the trial, fight for a ruling on these three points, he cannot raise them on appeal. Therefore, it will be interesting to see how his legal “advisor” is going to advise Mr. Manson. Furthermore, Manson, in his prison cell, must be able to produce some evidence regarding these three points. But if the judge, the prison custodian, or the District Attorney’s office refuses to permit Manson to study these three issues, then Manson has a good opportunity to be given a new trial, even if found guilty. As to the trial itself, the only course that can assist Manson is the old, old adage: “Keep your mouth shut!” Do not go on the witness stand. Because, at no time, according to the “confession” of Susan Atkins, did Manson appear at the Tate murder site. The greatest danger that Manson will encounter will be a “deal” between the district attorney’s office and the other defendants. Manson is the target that the establishment wants to shoot down and place in a gas chamber. A “deal” is an arrangement between a prosecuting office and a defendant or a group of defendants to confess to a crime, implicating someone else, in return for a light sentence. Technically, this is illegal, but it has been used time and time again. The number of innocent persons convicted by this method is staggering. Manson has as much chance of securing a fair trial in Los Angeles as a Russian in a Siberian labor camp. His theory that he has, or has, the hypnotic power to compel several persons to commit several murders is nonsense and would be laughed out of any Federal court because there is no medical proof in the thousands of medical case histories extant of any person being hypnotized to commit a murder. And to state that one person could hypnotize four other individuals to commit a group murder defies every law of medical and psychic science. If the District Attorney’s office accepts the theory, then that office is automatically proclaiming that those persons who acted in such a trance or hypnotic state ARE LEGALLY INNOCENT! For, if they were acting under a trance, they had no will to commit a premeditated murder of another human being. And under the basic principles of American law, no person can be convicted of murder if there be no premeditation, for there is no malice aforethought. But will Manson, acting as his own attorney, be capable of adequately arguing these issues? Will his advising attorney advise him on how to obtain these facts on cross-examination? If Manson can conduct a cross-examination, he may be able to hang the District Attorney with his own rope!
We are going to start a new feature here, which is reprinting older news stories from back in the day for your analysis and discussion. Here is a classic... thanks to the interns who retyped it and to the original authors.
MANSON CAN GO FREE: Distinguished attorney maps out Manson’s defense strategy
Charlie Manson has stated that he intends to sit as his own attorney when he goes to trial for the Tate and La Bianca murders.The following article was written by a noted attorney practicing before Federal Courts and various state bars.He is also a prize winning author on laws relating to corporate and government practices, and of several books on international affairs.The following is his commentary on the Manson affair…which outlines the method by which Charles Manson should conduct the defense in his trial.The author prefers to remain anonymous for obvious reasons.
The forthcoming trial of Charles Manson and his alleged band of “hippies” for the alleged murders of Sharon Tate and her companions will be an interesting demonstration of how the law operates in a system administered by and for the members of the establishment.
As one world famous author has said: “Far too many lawyers have the morals of a whore and the soul of a pimp.”And it was probably with knowledge of this fact that Charles Manson stated in his very first appearance in the Los Angeles court: “As far as I am concerned, I consider myself dead.”
How the law – and the legal profession – operated can be seen by observing the conduct of the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office and the two attorneys representing Miss Susan Atkins.From the details slowly emerging from the case, it has become clear that Susan’s “confession” is not the true story of the murders at the Tate home, but that parts of it were concocted by her attorneys with the connivance ofa member of the staff of the Los Angeles District Attorney.
The published Atkins “confession” is legally a fake!
Lawrence Schiller, whose background is discussed later in this article, concluded an agreement between Susan’s attorneys and the Assistant District Attorney for the sole and exclusive purpose of exploiting her false confession for the most base purpose: to make a fast back out of the misery and degradation of another human being.
This is how it happened: On Dec. 1 and Dec. 4, 1969, Susan Atkins was released from jailin custody of her two attorneys and the Assistant District Attorney.She was taken to her attorney’s Beverly Hills office on both days and in the presence of an Assistant District Attorney spoke into a tape recorder with a legal stenographer taking notes.
Lawrence Schiller was not in the office on those two days, but on Dec. 13, 1969, the Atkins “confession” broke in the European press.This confession had been sold to the European press by Larry Schiller for a considerable sum of money – thousands of dollars.
Since Schiller could have obtained the “confession” only through Susan’s attorneys, it can definitely be stated that Schiller, the two attorneys, and the assistant district attorney were involved!
It is incredible – by every rule of principle by American law – that two ethical lawyers would permit an assistant district attorney to sit in on their consultations with the client they were supposed to defend – unlessall three had an understanding that Susan Atkins was to be used for the purpose of exploiting her alleged “confession”to produce money for themselves, to be split with a public relations man who turns out to be Larry Schiller.
There is no doubt in this attorney’s opinion that no Supreme Court in any state, nor the United States Supreme Court will permit the use of that confession if Manson knows how to use the legal tools he says he knows how to use!
Furthermore, the presence of an assistant district attorney, plus his involvement, directly or indirectly in this nefarious plot to use and exploit Atkins, is gross misconduct and abuse of office!Because the assistant district attorney, in law, in these circumstances, is an agent of the D.A.’s office, and as such, he knew that under the law, his knowledge of the Atkins “confession” would be published, and once published, could and probably will make any guilty verdict reversible in Supreme Court.(This does not in any way implicate District Attorney Younger or other members of his staff, since they could have been totally unaware of what was happening.)
The conclusive evidence that Susan’s attorneys planned the entire “confession” is seen by their statement that up to now they had not received any money from the Schiller activities.But, as seen later, Schiller said he entered into a trust agreement on behalf of Susan.If that be the case, then the two attorneys have no right to that money – especially under those circumstances.Schiller stated that he has given them money; they deny receiving any of the “confession” money.Someone is lying.
Finally, there is no proof that Schiller has even met Susan Atkins, but in any case, how did he arrange a trust agreement with her unless her attorneys were present?
What will the California Bar Ethics Committee do in this case?You can be fairly certain that they will do nothing.The “moral and ethical” leaders of the legal profession will sit on their collective asses and privately applaud this “coup” by two of their colleagues.
Manson instinctively knew that he could not get a fair trial “under the basic principles of American justice.”But if Manson had worn a uniform and had committed murder for his superiors in Vietnam he would have been hailed as a hero.For example, witness the pious outpouring of sympathy for Lt. Calley when he was charged with the multiple murder, the slaughter of thirteen armed men, women and children.In spite of the overwhelming proof that a massacre had occurred, in spite of the fact that the pro-American South Vietnamese Congressional Committee signed a written statement that a massacre of several hundreds of human beings had occurred (N.Y. Times, Jan. 5, 1970), the American press warned that all the publicity that they themselves had released and published in their own newspapers was damaging the case against Lt. Calley because of “undue publicity in violation of the Constitutional guarantee of a free and impartial trial.”And with every publication of the news of the massacre, Lt. Calleys chance for freedom grow geometrically.
But notice also that Sgt. Mitchell, who was subsequently indicted for participating in the same massacre, has not received the same publicity as Lt. Calley. Why?Sgt. Mitchell is a black man.The chances are 100 to 1 that Lt. Calley will go free and Sgt. Mitchell will be found guilty and sentenced to hard labor for life.Yet Sgt. Mitchell was obeying the orders of his superior, Lt. Calley.This is another example of how the double standard of the law operates.
It should be remembered that neither Charles Manson nor Lt. Calley made a confession.Calley was at the scene of the alleged crime and gave direct orders to the enlisted GI’s there to commit the alleged murders.Charles Manson was not at the scene of the murders for which he is to be tried.
Both alleged crimes were revealed by persons long after the alleged criminal acts were committed.However, in the Calley case, his activities were concealed by his superior officers in the U.S. Army until an ex-GI, without seeking or receiving any compensation, wrote many letters to the U.S. Defense Department and members of Congress.
After many persons had received his letters – and ignored them – the story came out into the open, and was confirmed by eye witnesses and by official photographers of the U.S. Army in Saigon!
But in the Manson case, there are no photographs showing Manson at the scene of the alleged crimes.The person who implicated Manson was one Susan Atkins – for money in excess of $150,000.Who is Susan, and how did she earn her money?
She claims that she was a member of the Manson “family”, which had semi-religious overtones.Manson, according to Susan, had such formidable hypnotic powers that she, and four other tribal members, committed four or five murders at the Tate residence, and on the following day committed the murders of two other innocent persons.The press, although there is absolutely no proof that Manson was at either of the murder sites, has now connected him to both murders.Susan Atkins has also connected him as the “ringleader” whom she and her companions obeyed under a “hypnotic trance”.
Regularly, at least once a week, the L.A. press keeps hinting that more bodies will be found, which were the work of Manson and his much-publicized “occult powers”.But no more bodies have been found.But the constant reiterations that the police are seeking more bodies influences and molds public opinion.The LAPD now has the opportunity to “solve” every unsolved murder of their books.Thus, the public, and the prospective jurors who will try Manson, will have been brainwashed.And while the Manson affair is trumpeted from every one of the news media, the Lt. Calley trial slowly recedes into obscurity – which is where the American people would like it to stay, according to Gallop Poll of Jan. 1970.
And who is Lawrence Schiller, the man who promoted Susan Atkins for thousands of dollars?He is a man who, according to a national weekly news magazine, “…would do anything for a buck.”A self-styled writer and PR man, Schiller became a public figure by making a fast buck on the controversy surrounding the assassination of President Kennedy.
Since Schiller is now a public figure, his activities can be legally commented upon, and so, with no malice in practice or thought, some of his activities are hereby enumerated:
In Jan. 1967, Capitol Records, a pretty big recording company in these United States, decided that one way of showing an extra profit on their balance sheet would be to bring forth an LP record dealing with the proponents and critics of the Warren Commission.To induce the critics to speak on this record, Schiller, acting as Producer of the record, informed these critics that part of the proceeds of the record would be given to the John F. Kennedy Memorial Society.Based upon that representation, many critics did speak, and waived their fee on behalf of the society.
But no sooner had the record been released than the Secretary of the Memorial Society issued a public statement that they had never been informed of the Schiller proposal.It has been estimated that more than 35,000 copies of the record have been sold, and not one penny of the proceeds have been offered to the Kennedy Memorial Society.
The next caper pulled by the promoter, Schiller, was a Jack Ruby deathbed “confession”.In this grotesque number Schiller decided to go for more then just a buck – he went for TWO bucks.Not only did he collect as the producer of the Ruby “confession” record, but he also collected as the “business agent” for the dying Ruby.But before you could say “pay me”, Schiller was receiving some very nasty words from Ruby’s family.
Schiller also co-authored a book defending the Warren Commission.The book revealed that it was written as fast as Schiller and his co-author could write.The “facts” stated in the book are of highly questionable authenticity, but the establishment press gave the book reviews which helped its sales.Not really good reviews, but it made a fast buck.
With these accomplishments behind him, Schiller really came into his own when he took on Susan Atkins as a “client”.According to Schiller, he obtained a “confession” from his client because he was touched by the fact that Susan was
pregnant, since Susan, by admitting her guilt, would face a long term in prison.With tears in his eyes, filled with compassion for the young mother and her unborn child, he would show Susan how to provide for the child’s college education – not with Schiller’s money, but with the money Susan would receive by confessing to being a member of the “hippie tribe” that murdered Sharon Tate and her companions.
Speaking like a “sob sister” of the old Hearst press, Schiller spoke his feeling on a local Los Angeles TV station.During this interview, Schiller, reclining comfortably, whined out his distress for the unborn Atkins child.
However, when questioned by the television “M.C.” concerning the distribution of funds obtained from the “confession,” Schiller became coy, and then became evasive.The interviewer did not press him too hard.Schiller admitted that the money received would probably run into six figures; he admitted that his share would run between eight and nine percent; he admitted that the money received up to the time of the interview was approximately $50,000 and going up.
He would not discuss the alleged “trust” fund agreement between himself and Susan Atkins.He stated that there was enough money for the unborn child to go through four years of college.But strangely, he would not say who had the trust fund, who was the trustee, and who was the administrator.We only have his word that a trust fund exists.
What he omitted to say is of more importance than what he did say: He did not inform us what would happen to the “trust” if: (1) the baby should not be born? (2) if the baby is born, who receives the interest on the money which accumulates up to the time the child enters college (3) if the baby refuses to go to college or does not have the intelligence or desire to go to college, who receives the money from the trust fund? (4) from the time the child is born until he begins his college studies, how does the child live, and who supports him? (5) who is the administrator of the confession money?Schiller? If so, he has another ace in the hole, because as administrator he could receive money from the trust!
In fact, if the trust fund is, say, $200,000, and the money is invested in non-taxable state or municipal bonds, at nine percent per annum, that would come to about $18,000.Mr. Schiller could have bread on his table for a long time and could indeed send his own children – and grandchildren to college.
Now Schiller has another moneymaking scheme going for himself.During the same TV interview, Schiller inadvertently exposed another method of making a fast buck out of the Manson-Atkins affair.He informed the TV interviewer that he was contemplating a lawsuit against the L.A. Times for “bootlegging” the “confession” of his client, Susan.
However, he assured the listener that he believed that the L.A. Times and he could arrive at an amicable settlement out of court.He did not say that Susan or her unborn child would receive any of the money he might get from the L.A. Times or that any of such monies would be placed in the alleged trust fund.
With all this going on, the chickens came home to roost with the announcement that Susan’s attorneys were not satisfied with Schiller’s benevolent arrangement of their client’s financial affairs.After all, when a couple of hundred thousand dollars are involved, some of it has got to stick to the real, honest attorneys, not just some public relations man.
But enough of the sobbing Mr. Lawrence Schiller, whose tears of compassion for Miss Atkins and her unborn child would water the Sahara Desert.The important fact is that this “confession” was used by the press to pronounce Manson “guilty”.The trial will be used by the media to create an overwhelming popular belief that hippies, long-haired youths in general, are murderers.The question of Manson’s guilt is not important to them at all.
But to Manson it is very important because his very life is in jeopardy.And what this all comes down to is: how does the law really operate for a person in Manson’s circumstances?What happens before, during, and after his brief appearances before the judge and jury?
gn:Unless Manson understands the
establishment’s rules in Los Angeles, he is dead.From his statements in open court, there is no doubt that Manson does comprehend that his chances of receiving a trial under the basic principles of American justice are as fleeting as a snowflake on a hot summer day.Several examples of California justice, as practiced by the local legal establishment, are hereby set forth to illustrate my point:
One interesting example of corruption of legal practices in California can be seen in a case that occurred some four years ago.In that classic miscarriage of justice, a citizen signed a divorce complaint accusing his wife of committing adultery with a judge of Los Angeles County.In fact, the complaining husband included another attorney as being a partner with the judge.
The outcome of this case is most interesting.The cuck-holded husband was declared insane by a judge who was a friend of the third judge.The husband remains, to this day, imprisoned in an asylum.The wife, who never denied committing adultery with the judge and the attorney, has vanished, but the strange thing is that the estate of the framed husband is being administered by the wife and the attorney he named in the husband’s adultery complaint.The attorney was appointed by the judge, also named in the husband’s complaint!This is what might be called having your cake and eating it!
What is not so surprising is that the members of the Ethics Committee of the California Bar found nothing unethical in the conduct of the judge and his co-adulterer.
This is the kind of “justice” Manson will face when he enters the courtroom.
A final example of the kind of justice given to a member of the establishment – as contrasted to the “common-herd” – is the case of a judge who presided over the Palm Springs area.One would suppose that a judge would have a greater moral stature than a mere attorney, like, for example, Cooper, but a judge always has opportunities which are difficult to dismiss.
In Palm Springs, the judge in charge of the estates of the American Indians systematically swindled the Indians out of monies placed there by the U.S. government.The money had been given to the Indians by a treaty, but the judge, seeing all that money in the hands of “savages” decided to have a picnic looting the estates.
How much he stole the Federal Government never decided, but it was in six figures.When he was caught with his hands up to the elbows in the theft, the Federal Government and the district attorney decided he should be warned to “go forth and sin no more.”
But the judge was permitted to retain the money he had embezzled.After all, what could those savages do with it anyway?Buy a home? Have a little food on the table?Send their children to college?The judge, of course, received only a small salary.Only $28,000 a year.And with taxes and everything, he was entitled to have a little.
And in this case, the California Bar Association did nothing!
Thus, the greatest problem Manson will face will be this corruption of justice by the judges and attorneys who are its administrators.Manson was absolutely correct in his statement that he does not trust any attorney, or the law.
But he may have some hope if he follows a proper legal strategy.
If Manson were properly advised, by his newly appointed advisor, he would, at the very commencement of his trial, do the following:
* By staff writers * From: news.com.au * November 23, 2009 4:34PM
AN adopted child was determined to find his real parents, but he wasn't prepared to discover that he was related to one of the most infamous figures of the 20th Century, serial killer Charles Manson.
* Man discovers real dad is Charles Manson * Has been exchanging mail with serial killer * Has considered having phone contact
A MAN who went in search of his biological father was shocked to learn it was famed serial killer Charles Manson.
Matthew Roberts, a 41-year-old DJ who lives in Los Angeles, said the shock of discovering his father sent him into depression.
"I didn't want to believe it. I was frightened and angry. It's like finding out that Adolf Hitler is your father,” Mr Roberts told The Sun.
"I'm a peaceful person - trapped in the face of a monster."
Despite his revulsion Mr Roberts has been exchanging mail with Manson, who is serving life in Corcoran State Prison in California over nine murders committed by his “Family” of followers in 1969.
“He sends me weird stuff and always signs it with his swastika,” Mr Roberts said.
“At first I was stunned and depressed. I wasn't able to speak for a day.
"I remember not being able to eat."
Mr Roberts grew up in Rockford, Illinois but didn’t know he was adopted until his sister told him at age 10.
Despite his adoptive father telling him “nothing good” would come of discovering who his real parents were, Mr Roberts used a social services agency to locate his mother, Terry.
She confirmed Mr Roberts was adopted and told him his birth name was Lawrence Alexander but would not reveal the last name.
Eventually Terry relented and revealed that Mr Roberts' father was Manson, who she claims raped her in 1967 after she had succumbed to his manic charisma.
"She even said, 'You look just like him', Mr Roberts said recalling the shocking revelation.
Manson has confirmed that he could be Mr Roberts’ father and that he remembers Terry.
The former cult leader wrote to Mr Roberts that: "The truth is the truth. The truth hurts."
Mr Roberts fears he may have inherited some of Manson’s characteristics but insists he is a very peaceful person.
"I'm not nuts but I've got a little bit of it,” Mr Roberts said.
“It's scary and upsetting. If I get worked up, my eyes get really big and that's really freaked some people out before.
"I've tried to tone that down quite a bit. I don't like having that effect on people.
"I don't even like the fact that I'm big. It makes me even scarier. My hero is Gandhi. I'm an extremely non-violent, peaceful person and a vegetarian.
"I don't even kill bugs. I've had long hair all my life. I could make it go away, but I can't let the world and their fears change me."
Mr Roberts has a prison phone number for Manson but says a “subconscious block” stops him from calling.
"If I did talk to Charlie on the phone, I would say, 'I truly understand what it's like to be you, more than anyone could ever imagine on so many levels,'” Mr Roberts said.
"He's my biological father - I can't help but have some kind of emotional connection. That's the hardest thing of all - feeling love for a monster who raped my mother.
"I don't want to love him, but I don't want to hate him either."
gn:Unless Manson understands the
