Defendant Kasabian Faces Trial – No Bail
Wednesday, January 21st, 1970
LOS ANGELES, Jan. 21 – A judge denied Tuesday motions for dismissal of murder and conspiracy charges against Linda Kasabian, one of six persons accused in the killings of actress Sharon Tate and others. He also declined to set bail for her.
An attorney for the 20-year-old pregnant blonde first asked dismissal of counts involving the killings last Aug. 10 of Mr. and Mrs. Leno LaBianca, market owners, on grounds of insufficient evidence.
Then the attorney, Gary Fleischman, asked dismissal of all counts, saying the grand jury that returned the murder conspiracy indictments was not representative of the community as a whole, and that it was influenced by what he called an “inundation” of publicity.
Superior Court Judge Malcom M. Lucas ordered that Mrs. Kasabian remain in custody, with trial date to be set Feb. 9.
Another defendant has said that all of those charged were members of a band of nomadic hippie types, and that some killed Miss Tate and four visitors to her home Aug. 9 and then killed the LaBiancas the next night to show they hadn’t lost their nerve.
Mrs. Kasabian’s attorney conceded there was sufficient evidence to hold his client for trial in the Tate case, but argued that although she accompanied others to the LaBianca home she ran away and was not involved in the slayings.
Fleischman said grand jury testimony indicated that Mrs. Kasabian’s only direct connection was that she disposed of a wallet belonging to one of the LaBiancas, apparently on direction from a co-defendant, clan leader Charles Manson.
He said Mrs. Kasabian had no choice but to go along to the LaBianca home “unless she wanted her throat cut.”
Fleischman said that there is no evidence that Mrs. Kasabian “did anything to harm anyone or went inside either house” when the slayings occurred.
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