Manson Asks To Be Own Attorney
December 18, 1969
LOS ANGELES - Charles M. Manson, facing trial on murder-conspiracy charges in
seven slayings, wants to act as his own attorney.
The 35-year-old cult leader made the surprise request Wednesday to Superior
Court Judge William B. Keene, who said he would consider it.
Manson, bearded and long-haired, approached the bench with pad and pencil in
hand and said, "Your honor, I am competent to stand and talk to you... I have
the awareness to understand the charges against me and I have some knowledge of
the law."
The soft-spoken defendant declared, "There is no way I can give up my own
voice in this matter. If there is no way I can speak freely, it ties my hands
and I might as well not have a defense."
Manson is charged along with four of this followers in the gunshot-stabbing
deaths of actress Sharon Tate and four other persons at her rented Benedict
Canyon estate Aug. 9.
All five also are accused in the knifing deaths the following night of
wealthy Hollywood grocer Leno LaBianca and his wife, Rosemary. A sixth member of
the Manson "family" is charged only in the LaBianca killings.
