‘Manson murders at 50: Prosecutor who sent Manson followers to prison looks back’

It was 50 years ago this week which marked the heinous murders of actress Sharon Tate, 26, who was married to film director Roman Polanski, and eight months pregnant; hair designer Jay Sebring, 35; coffee heiress Abigail Folger; screenwriter Wojciech Frykoswki; and an 18-year-old Steven Parent.

When I was growing up, during the 1970s and 1980s, some from my generation were fascinated. There was an Emmy-nominated CBS television movie, Helter Skelter. The power of the production may have had something to do with it. But, I think it was the fact that celebrities were murder victims. It is not too common. In July 1989, so it has been 30 years, was the murder of 21-year-old actress Rebecca Schaeffer, a rising star who played opposite Pam Dawber on the 1986–1988 CBS comedy series My Sister Sam.

Charles Manson, the ringleader of those 1969 murders, was a cult leader. He is a case example why, despite being progressive, I am not totally opposed to the death penalty. He was convicted, by famed prosecutor and author Vincent Bugliosi (1934–2015), in January 1971. Manson lived another 46 years, having died at age 83 in 2017. Also convicted were those Manson directed to commit the murders: Susan Atkins (1948–2009), Charles “Tex” Watson (b. 1945), and Patricia Krenwinkel (b. 1947).

A comedian who I liked, the late Sam Kinison (1953–1992), had a bit in which he touched on drugs—make that acid—explaining Manson. It was standup comedy. So, I did not take to it that Kinison was expressing 100-percent his thoughts on Manson. My take on Manson was that he was, along with being a con artist, a predator and a killer. He preyed on others to join his cult. He facilitated the murders of those celebrities, and non-celebrities, by getting his cult members to do his bidding. (Related to the murders of Tate, and her company, were the August 10, 1969 murders of supermarket executive Leno, 44, and his wife Rosemary LaBianca, 38.)

For years, the surviving members of Sharon Tate’s family made sure to help keep Charles Manson, and his fellow killers, in prison. Tate’s mother and one of her sisters died before Manson. But, fortunately, one of Tate’s sisters is alive—and continues to do her best to make sure none of the surviving members of Manson’s cult of killers can be freed from prison.

Following is an interview with one of the attorneys who successfully brought Manson and his “family” to conviction back in 1971.

Here is the article’s link:

Manson murders at 50: Prosecutor who sent Manson followers to prison looks back