TATE JURORS PRESCRIBE DEATH FOR 4: DESERET NEWS, MARCH 30, 1971

Charles Manson never heard the jury say it. On Monday, March 29, 1971, as the jurors took their seats in a Los Angeles courtroom, he called out that they could not get away with refusing to let him put on a defense, told them "You have no authority over me," and added, "Half of you aren't as good as I am." Bailiffs led him out before the verdicts were read, and the three women tried with him followed, shouting. The next day the Deseret News in Salt Lake City put the UPI report on its front page: the seven men and five women who had taken ten days to convict needed only ten hours to decree death for all four, on all 27 counts of murder and conspiracy.

Most of the story is about the defendants' last day in front of that jury. Manson had shaved his head, and the swastika was carved in his forehead; the women had cut their waist-length hair into close-cropped pixie cuts, and all four came in giggling and smirking. "You've judged yourselves," Susan Atkins cried, lunging toward the jury box. Patricia Krenwinkel told the jurors there had never been any justice in that courtroom, and Leslie Van Houten called the system "just a game in which you all make money." Juror Marie Mesmer, a retired drama critic, said she could go home with peace of mind now, "knowing I have protected society."

The clerk took more than twenty minutes to read the verdicts, the paper notes, and never once spoke a victim's name. The continuation on page A-4 names them: Sharon Tate, who was pregnant, Jay Sebring, Abigail Folger, Wojciech Frykowski and Steven Parent on the grounds of the Tate estate, and Leno and Rosemary LaBianca in their home the next night. It also records what the three women had told the jury in the penalty phase: that they had committed the murders, that Manson was innocent, and that they had done it to confuse the police holding Bobby Beausoleil for the killing of Gary Hinman. The jury sentenced Manson to death all the same.

This is UPI wire copy written on the day of the verdicts, and it reports the trial as the press saw it rather than as the record sets it out. It prints two victims' names as "Voityck Frykowski" and "Stephen Parent" and spells "Labianca"; they were Wojciech Frykowski and Steven Parent. Its line that Charles "Tex" Watson "allegedly physically killed at least two of the victims" was an allegation then; Watson was later tried separately and convicted of the same seven murders. Manson was convicted of those seven on January 25, 1971, and later of the Hinman and Shea murders, though others struck every proven fatal blow. His death sentence was modified to life after People v. Anderson, formally in 1977, and he died in prison in 2017.

The Deseret News printed this on March 30, 1971. The scans of pages A-1 and A-4 come from Utah Digital Newspapers at the University of Utah's J. Willard Marriott Library, which rates the issue No Copyright - United States, and the citation and that rating are given under the scans. The story carries a UPI credit and no copyright line. In the whole sixty-page issue the only copyright notices sit on a syndicated book excerpt and a classified advertisement.

Both parts of the story were captured: the front-page start, which breaks off mid-quote at "See JURY on Page A-4," and the continuation, which picks up the same sentence. Every word was transcribed from the scans, and none was illegible. The paper's slips stand, including "compltetely" in Mesmer's first quote, a second Mesmer quote that reads "They seemed completely because they did it." with a word evidently dropped in setting, and no closing quotation mark after Paul Fitzgerald's "eradicate." One stray space before a comma was closed up. The unrelated items caught in the crops, a Pakistan story, the "Today's Thought" box and a theft brief, are not transcribed.

Transcription

Transcribed word for word from the page scans. Original spelling, punctuation, capitalisation and typographical errors have been kept exactly as printed. Unreadable words are marked [illegible]. Nothing has been modernised or corrected.

Page A-1

Tate Jurors Prescribe Death For 4

LOS ANGELES (UPI)—A jury which believed it was protecting society from a dangerous influence Monday decreed death for Charles Manson and his women, who were dragged shrieking from the courtroom before the verdicts were read.

None of the four ever expressed any remorse for two nights of death and carnage in August 1969, when pregnant actress Sharon Tate and six other persons were knifed and shot and their blood used to smear the words "death to pigs" on the walls.

It took the seven men and five women on the jury 10 days to reach a verdict on the guilt of Manson, Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel and Leslie Van Houten, but only 10 hours to sentence them to death on all 27 counts of murder and conspiracy.

ARGUE ALL POINTS

"We made our decision early," juror Marie Mesmer, a retired drama critic, told newsmen, "but we argued all the points so everyone would have a say-so.

"Charles Manson is a dangerous influence on society," she said. "I think I can go home with peace of mind now, knowing I have protected society."

The defendants, whose outbursts during the trial which lasted nine and a half months, cost nearly $1 million, and often caused them to be removed from the courtroom, came into court giggling and smirking.

IN PIXIE CUTS

Manson, whose forehead was carved with a swastika, had shaved his head, and the girls had shorn their waist-length tresses into close-cropped pixie cuts.

As the grim-faced jurors took their seats, Manson called out truculently, "I don't see how you can get away with not letting me put on a defense."

"You have no authority over me," he told the jurors.

"Half of you aren't as good as I am."

He was led out by bailiffs before even hearing the verdicts.

As death was decreed for the cult leader, the young women all began shouting.

"You've judged yourselves," Miss Atkins cried, lunging toward the jury box. She was restrained and led out.

Miss Krenwinkel echoed:

"You're removing yourselves from the face of the earth. You're all fools. There never has been any justice in this courtroom."

"Your system is just a game in which you all make

See JURY on Page A-4

Page A-4

Jury Says Death To Manson, Girls

Continued from First Page

money," Miss Van Houten shouted.

It took Court Clerk Gene Darrow more than 20 minutes to read the verdicts. The names of the victims were never mentioned.

Superior Court Judge Charles H. Older told the jury if it were in his power he would award them a medal for serving on the jury, which was sequestered longer than any other panel in history.

He stepped from the bench and shook hands with each juror, calling them by name.

He was to formally pronounce sentence April 19, but it was not expected that Manson and the women would be executed for at least three to five years, if ever. An appeal to the California Supreme Court is automatic in all death penalty cases.

"This isn't the end, this is just the beginning, because of all the nonsense," Manson's lawyer, Irving Kanarek, said.

"The jury has perpetuated the very thing it sought to eradicate, defense attorney Paul Fitzgerald said.

"I fail to see how it solved anything. The society which kills its problem children denies itself," he added.

Deputy District Attorney Vincent Bugliosi said he believed the mainly middle-aged jury was "shocked and outraged at the savagery which came in the dead of night."

The mutilated bodies of the honey blonde actress, hair stylist Jay Sebring, coffee heiress Abigail Folger, Polish playboy Voityck Frykowski and teen-ager Stephen Parent were strewn about the grounds of the Tate estate, all shot and knifed to death.

Grocer Leno Labianca and his brunette wife, Rosemary, were killed the following night in their home some 20 miles away.

Star prosecution witness Linda Kasabian, who was given immunity for her testimony, said Manson ordered the slaughters to ignite a race war from which he believed his own clan would rise as leaders.

A fifth defendant, Charles "Tex" Watson, was not tried with the others because he successfully fought extradition to California until long after the trial began. After his arrival here, he was committed for a time to a state mental hospital.

He was discharged last month and is awaiting trial. Many of the same 85 witnesses the state called against Manson will have to be recalled to testify against Watson, who allegedly physically killed at least two of the victims.

Manson never took the stand before the jury, but all three women testified in the penalty phase that they had committed the murders and that Manson was innocent.

They claimed their motive was to confuse police, who had arrested "Manson Family" member Robert Beausoleil in the earlier murder of musician Gary Hinman, with which Manson and Miss Atkins also are charged.

"They seemed compltetely remorseless," Miss Mesmer said.

"They seemed completely because they did it."

Notes, kept as printed: "compltetely" in the first Mesmer quote; the second Mesmer quote reads "They seemed completely because they did it." with a word evidently dropped in setting; "Voityck Frykowski" (usually Wojciech); "Labianca"; no closing quotation mark after "eradicate" in the Fitzgerald quote; "police , who" has a stray space, set here as "police, who". The lede is set across two columns and the story then runs down column 2 only. So the page A-1 rectangle crop also takes in the unrelated story "Pakistan, India Tie Weakened" and the "Today's Thought" box in column 1 below the lede. The page A-4 crop also takes in the unrelated brief "2 Held In Theft" at the foot of column 2. None of these is transcribed. No words were illegible.