Charles Manson Trial: 1970-71

The impasse was broken when Manson was allowed to speak without the jury present. He gave an angry hour-long statement proclaiming his innocence and condemning society for persecuting him. When he was finished, he told "the girls" not to testify.

As both sides prepared their summations during a Thanksgiving recess, Leslie Van Houten's attorney, Ronald Hughes, disappeared while camping (he was later found dead). The trial was postponed for two weeks to allow Van Houten's new attorney time to study the case. When the trial resumed with final arguments, the prosecution reviewed the abundant testimony about Manson's control over his followers and his messianic "lust for death."

The defense declared that the state had produced no evidence against Manson. Kanarek claimed that Manson was being prosecuted for having a counterculture lifestyle and attacked Kasabian and Watson as the real instigators and murderers. As Kanarek's argument began to consume entire days, Judge Older warned him against using "filibuster" tactics. Kanarek's summation lasted seven days. Van Houten's new attorney, Maxwell Keith, argued more succinctly that the three women should not be convicted if the state's portrayal of them as Manson's "mindless robots" was accurate.