Helter Skelter

On March 6, Manson began making increasingly outlandish requests, including that Bugliosi “be incarcerated for a period of time under the same circumstances that I have been subject to” (353). Keens subsequently judged that Manson was not fit to act as his own attorney and assigned a court-appointed defense for him, one of many attorneys who would find Manson too difficult to defend. On March 11, Atkins fell in line with Manson, firing her defense attorney Richard Caballero and hiring a Manson-approved attorney. Bugliosi began to focus on Kasabian as a key witness for the prosecution. 

Kasabian showed regret for her part in the crime, and her story was compelling. She constructed a timeline of the evening’s events and identified some of the implements used that night, such as the wire cutters Watson used to cut the phone lines. She described the two murders in details which were not public knowledge. She described the group stopping 1.8 miles away to hose off in front of witness Rudolf Weber’s house and changing their clothes sometime after. On the night of the LaBianca killings, she said, “Charlie was in complete command” (356). She acknowledged that Manson had attended a party near the LaBianca home in June of 1968.