• Return of Pair for Trial In Tate Slayings Fought

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Return of Pair for Trial In Tate Slayings Fought

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 30 – Attorneys for two of the six persons indicted here for the Tate and La Bianca slayings last August filed legal notices Monday that they will continue to oppose the return of their clients to Los Angeles for trial.

Charles D. (Tex) Watson is being held in the Collin County Jail at McKinney, Tex., and Patricia Krenwinkel is in custody in the Mobile County Jail, Mobile, Ala.

Both were indicted here on charges of conspiracy in seven counts of murder and were named by Susan Denise Atkins, another of the alleged as active participants in the slayings of actress Sharon Tate and four others at her estate Aug. 9 and Leno La Bianca and his wife, Rosemary, in their home the following night.

Extradition hearings have been set for Jan. 5 for Watson in Austin, and for Miss Krenwinkel in Mobile.

In papers filed with Martin Dies Jr., Texas Secretary of State, Watson’s attorney, Bill Boyd, indicated that he will oppose extradition on two grounds:

—That Watson cannot get a fair trial in California because this state “has been inundated with publicity.”

—That there is insufficient evidence in the request for extradition that Watson is the same person who was indicted in California.

A copy of the request for Watson’s extradition dated Dec. 9 included his mug shot and several affidavits, one of them signed by Miss Atkins in which she said the person in the picture is Watson.

In another affidavit, a Los Angeles police fingerprint expert said a print matching Watson’s right ring finger was taken from the front door of the Tate home.

In Mobile, Miss Krenwinkel’s attorney, M. A. Marsal, filed a writ of habeas corpus to block her extradition.

Meanwhile, Miss Atkins and the three others indicted here in the mass slayings already have been arraigned.

Miss Atkins and Leslie Van Houten, who is charged only with the La Bianca killings, both pleaded innocent and are scheduled for trial Feb. 9.

Charles M. Manson, leader of a hippie cult of which all the suspects are said to be members, is to appear in court Jan. 14 to enter a plea and Linda Kasabian’s next court appearance, also for plea, scheduled for Jan. 6.

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