• Susan Atkins Counsel Asks Judge Ousted

Susan Atkins Counsel Asks Judge Ousted

LOS ANGELES, Mar. 31 – The attorney for Susan Denise Atkins yesterday moved to disqualify Superior Court Judge William B. Keene from presiding at her trial in the Tate-LaBianca slayings.

Attorney Daye Shinn charged the jurist “will not be able to conduct a fair, unbiased or unprejudiced hearing” in the case of Miss Atkins.

He based his argument on the fact that Judge Keene signed an order allowing the 21-year-old woman to be taken from jail to the office of her previous lawyer, Richard Caballero, for a conference on Dec. 4 with Dep. Dist. Atty. Vincent T. Bugliosi.

She subsequently “gave up her constitutional right to remain silent” when she appeared before the County Grand Jury. on Dec. 5. Shinn claimed. She and five others were indicted on murder and conspiracy charges.

No hearing date was set on Shinn’s motion.

Another defendant in the slayings, Patricia Krenwinkel 22, also challenged Judge Keene for “bias and prejudice” in an attempt to bar him from presiding over the trial, now scheduled for April 20.

However, Superior Court Judge George M. Dell ruled Miss Krenwinkel’s motion was not made early enough and refused to disquillify Judge Keene.

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