• Patricia Krenwinkel Says She ‘Feared, Loved’ Manson

Patricia Krenwinkel Says She ‘Feared, Loved’ Manson

LOS ANGELES, Mar. 3 – “I fear him as much as I love him,” said Patricia Krenwinkel, speaking of Charles Manson in her second appearance on the witness stand at the Sharon Tate murder trial.

Miss Krenwinkel took the stand Tuesday against her lawyer’s advice to deny that she ever said Manson ordered the seven Tate murders.

The long-haired defendant is one of three women convicted with Manson of murder-conspiracy in the slayings.

At the current penalty phase of the trial the women, who belonged to Manson’s nomadic clan, have taken the stand to assume blame for the slayings saying Manson is innocent.

A reliable source said Manson told Miss Krenwinkel to testify Tuesday after a psychiatric report quoted her as saying Manson ordered the slayings and she lived in fear he would kill her. Manson’s attorney called her to the stand.

Miss Krenwinkel, 23, responded to a report by Dr. Claude Brown, a psychiatrist who interviewed her in December 1969 just after her arrest in Mobile, Ala. In it, he quoted her as saying Manson told her and others to kill and she feared he’d kill her if she didn’t obey.

“She was exceedingly afraid of Charles finding her and killing her,” the report said. “She says that she will never be able to get away from him, that there is no place to run or hide.”

But on the stand Miss Krenwinkel denied taking orders from Manson.

Asked if she is afraid of him, she said. “I fear him as much as I love him. Your fear is your love. Anything more powerful than you, you fear.”

Why did she implicate Manson during the Mobile interview?

“I was just following what my lawyer told me to do,” she said. “…My lawyer was telling me all kinds of crazy things. He said why don’t you go talk to this man and act crazy on him, and that’s what I did.’

Brown concluded in his report that Miss Krenwinkel was suffering from schizophrenia and was probably psychotic when he interviewed her. He said she appeared distracted and said she heard Manson’s voice while talking to the psychiatrist.

Earlier, a psychiatrist testifying for the defense — Dr. Andre R. Tweed—said he concluded from an interview last week that Miss Krenwinkel has a “highly suggestible” personality which could be controlled by a dominant person.

When she left the stand, Manson smiled and chatted with her across the counsel table and she animatedly gestured as she talked to him, smiling broadly.

The jury is hearing evidence to decide whether the four defendants will be sentenced to death or life imprisonment.

By LINDA DEUTSCH

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