Manson is Accused of Hinman Murder
Tuesday, April 14th, 1970
LOS ANGELES, Apr. 14 – Hippie cult leader Charles Manson, thus far accused of only ordering others to kill, Monday was accused of the actual murder of musician Gary Hinman.
Robert Beausoleil, who took the stand in his own defense in Los Angeles Superior Court, told the seven-man, five-woman jury that the 35-year-old Manson not only killed Hinman, but held him (Beausoleil) captive.
The young defendant, who refused to take the stand in his first murder trial, which ended in a hung jury, Monday recounted his on-again, off-again life with the Manson family and the startling three final days in Hinman’s life.
Beausoleil recounted Manson’s attempt to extort money from Hinman to convince him he should join the family.
“Charlie said, ‘If we were to make you a part of the family, and give our world to you, would you at any time leave,'” Beausoleil testified. “Gary said he liked all the friends that he had and didn’t want to leave the church and his studio and his bagpipe band, and he said he probably would leave the family.
“Charlie said that’s what he thought and pulled a knife out that he had at his ankle and stabbed Gary in the chest. Gary gasped and said ‘Oh, Charlie, you didn’t have to stab me,’ and Charlie hit him again. Gary fell dead, but started wheezing-like spasms. Charlie grabbed a pillow and put it over his face.”
Beausoleil, who said he had come to the Hinman home at Manson’s request to ask for money, said he didn’t expect any violence.
“I was scared, sick to my stomach, shocked. I felt numb. I heard Charlie say to Mary (Brunner) to hold the pillow for him, and he followed me into the kitchen. I said I didn’t know why he had to kill him, and Charlie said he couldn’t take the chance of Gary talking, and Charlie said Gary’s body was the only thing dead. His, soul was alive, so it didn’t matter.
“I didn’t want to get killed, so I was pretty passive at this point,” Beausoleil said.
The young baby-faced defendant said that Manson had come to the house earlier and sliced the musician’s ear off and cut his face, but had left the house, only to return later to kill him. Manson had left Miss Brunner in charge of the situation, Beausoleil said, and the girl, armed with a gun, had kept him prisoner during the torture-murder of the musician.
Miss Brunner — the mother of Manson’s child —testified Monday that she was not shocked when the musician was killed. In fact, she rifled his pockets for money as he lay dead, she said.
The short-haired young woman, under cross examination in the murder trial of Beausoleil, a former “family” member, admitted that “if I didn’t testify, they (sheriff’s officers) would indict me for the murder of Hinman.”
Miss Brunner testified Friday that Hinman was fatally stabbed in the living room of his secluded Topanga Canyon home July 27, 1969.
She said that when she ran into the living room she saw Beausoleil standing over Hinman.
By MARY NEISWENDER
Comments