Beausoleil Asks For New Trial
Wednesday, May 13th, 1970
LOS ANGELES, May 13 – Robert Beausoleil, a “Manson family” member convicted of one of eight slayings attributed by police to the hippie cult, has requested a new trial with claims he has “new evidence.”
Beausoleil, 22, also sought unsuccessfully Tuesday to act as his own attorney in the case. Superior Court Judge William B. Keene, who for a short time permitted cult leader Charles Manson to argne in his own murder proceedings, denied the motion.
However, Keene told Beausoleil he could renew his request May 26 when the judge will hear the motion for a new trial.
Deputy Public Defender Leon Salter told Keene the motion for a new trial was based on “evidence” which Salter had difficulty obtaining because prospective witnesses “do not trust me.”
“If Mr. Beausoleil could interview them face-to-face, he feels they would open up and come forth with new evidence,” Salter said.
Keene said he would not “at this time” permit Beausoleil to represent himself.
“I am satisfied any new evidence on the new trial motion can be argued just as eloquently by you as by the defendant,” the judge told Salter.
The same jury which convicted Beausoleil of the July 27 stabbing of Gary Hinman, a bagpipe musician, recommended the death penalty.
Also charged in the Hinman murder were Manson, Susan Atkins, 21, and Bruce Davis, 27, who is still at large. Manson and Miss Atkins are awaiting trial in the seven Sharon Tate slayings.
Prosecution witnesses testified at Beausoleil’s trial — his second in the case — that Beausoleil killed Hinman on Manson’s orders, but the defendant contended it was Manson himself who delivered the fatal knife thrusts.
Comments