• Fighting Manson Ejected

Fighting Manson Ejected

LOS ANGELES, Jun. 12 – Hippie leader Charles Manson was carried screaming from the courtroom today after a fight erupted when the long-haired murder suspect refused to sit down.

Manson, in two court appearances this week, had walked from the courtroom, ordered out by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Charles Older after he refused to face the jurist.

Today, when the courtroom session began, Manson stood and held his arms outstretched and his head bowed. His three “followers,” also charged in the Tate-LaBianca killings — Leslie Van Houten, Patricia Krenwinkel and Susan Atkins — followed his lead. All three girls stood with their arms outstretched and fists clenched.

When the judge ordered them to sit, and they refused, the jurist told the bailiffs to seat them. Female bailiffs only slightly touched the girls and they sat down. But Manson resisted. His body stiffened and as three deputies attempted to shove him into his chair he began to twist, although not directly attacking the officers.

Several times, the slightly built Manson was physically lifted and dropped into his chair. The girls appeared shocked and when a lull in the scuffle appeared they all stood up again.

One of the deputies kept his hand over Manson’s mouth during the scuffle and while he was being carried to a holding tank nearby.

When he was placed into the tank adjacent to the courtroom he screamed, apparently in pain. His attorney, Irving Kanarek, immediately asked for medical assistance.

Meanwhile, as the girls watched, one screamed, “You might as well kill us all now — because we won’t get a fair trial.”

As the girls passed the judge’s bench, following his order that they be ejected, they hesitated and then shouted, “Can’t you see who we are? You’ve killed us once before. Can’t you see the cross?” intimating their stance was that of the Crucifixion.

Judge Older, obviously shaken by the incident, refused to listen to several defense attorneys who again petitioned that their clients be allowed in court because their actions – before the fight — were not disruptive. None of the defendants had said a word.

Judge Older later denied a motion by Manson’s attorney for a psychiatric examination of Linda Kasabian, one of the defendants who has turned state’s evidence.

By MARY NEISWENDER

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