Bomb Threat Revealed in Tate Penalty Trial
Sunday, February 7th, 1971
LOS ANGELES, Feb. 7 – The sheriff’s office says it has received information that explosives may be used to disrupt the final days of the penalty phase of the trial of Charles Manson and three female members of his “family.”
Sheriff’s Capt. William H. Alley Jr., said in an affidavit that as a result of this information, security measures for the entire Hall of Justice have been tightened. He said the information came from a “sufficient reliable government source.”
Alley’s affidavit was made public Friday but it was not revealed when it was made. Security at the Hall of Justice was noticeably stepped up when the guilt phase of the trial went to the jury Jan. 15.
Manson, Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel and Leslie Van Houten already stand convicted of first degree murder in the Tate-LaBianca murders. The jury is to determine whether they be sentenced to life imprisonment or death in the gas chamber.
A number of other members of the Manson “family” have testified during the penalty phase of life at the Spahn Ranch in nearby Chatsworth. They said Manson’s life was one of love, not death.
One of the witnesses, Sandra Good, 26, said that any suggestion that Manson would send anyone out to commit murder was “crazy.”
Miss Good said that all of the women in Manson’s “family” wanted to have all the babies they could because “babies are what it’s all about.” She said she had a child but she did not know who the father was.
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