• Manson Family Legal Fee Paid By DA

Manson Family Legal Fee Paid By DA

Q: I would like to know — where did the money come from to pay the lawyers who defended convicted murderers Charles Manson and the three girls?
— E. C. Miller, Northampton, Mass.

A: From the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office, Trials Division chief Aaron H. Stovitz explains: “Susan Atkins’s lawyer Daye Shinn used funds (speculated to be around $12,000) given her for her story called ‘The Killing of Sharon Tate.’ Paul Fitzgerald, who represented Patricia Krenwinkel, received no funds, according to his statement in a TV interview. Maxwell Keith (appointed by the court to represent Leslie Van Houten from Thanksgiving Day, 1970, until the time of sentence) will receive approximately $250 per day for every day he actually spent in court. This amount must first be approved by the Court Committee. (Ira Reiner and Ronald Hughes, who first represented Van Houten, received no funds, according to their statements.) Mr. Manson’s lawyer, Irving Kanarek, to our knowledge, has received no funds. It is speculated that Mr. Shinn did provide him with certain expense money. The ‘Manson Family’ advertised in a publication known as the ‘Free Press’ asking for funds. We do not know how much was raised. But we have been informed that a very small amount came in from that source.”

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