Linda Tells Her Fear of Manson
Wednesday, January 21st, 1970
LOS ANGELES, Jan. 21 – Linda Kasabian, seven months pregnant, appeared in Los Angeles Superior Court Tuesday in an unsuccessful bid for release on bail and claimed through her lawyers she accompanied the Charles Manson clan in the Sharon Tate and Leno LaBianca murders because she feared for her life.
Judge Malcom M. Lucas refused to release the 20-year-old blonde on bail or to dismiss charges against her and ordered Mrs. Kasabian returned to court Feb. 9 for setting of the date for her trial.
Mrs. Kasabian, Manson and other members of his hippie-type family are charged with the Aug. 9, 1969, murders of the pregnant Miss Tate and four others, and with the slayings the following night or market owner LaBianca and his wife, Rosemary.
Gary Fleischman and Ronald Goldman, attorneys for Mrs. Kasabian claimed she didn’t have any choice but to follow the orders of Manson and another defendant, Charles (Tex) Watson.
They told Judge Lucas Mrs. Kasabian feared either she or her child, Tanya, 2, who in each case was left behind with the clan at their Spahn Movie Ranch home, would be harmed if she didn’t do as ordered.
Fleischman said his client did not directly participate in the slayings and that there is no evidence she “did anything to harm anyone or went inside either house” when the victims were killed.
The Judge said Grand Jury testimony indicated Mrs. Kasabian disposed of bloody clothing, knives and a gun by throwing them into a canyon in the Santa Monica Mountains.
Fleischman said he had been told by the prosecution Mrs. Kasabian was the only defendant in the cases against whom the death penalty wouldn’t be sought, but one of the prosecutors said the District Attorney’s office hasn’t decided that point yet.
Meanwhile, the parents of hair stylist Jay Sebring Tuesday filed a $5 million suit against the hippie band accused of murdering him along with Miss Tate and three others.
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