Manson Judge Lives Up To Billing As Unflappable No-Nonsense Jurist
Monday, June 22nd, 1970
LOS ANGELES, Jun. 22 – Superior Court Judge Charles H. Older, who is presiding over the trial of Charles Manson and three members of his nomadic “family,” has a courthouse reputation as a stern, unflappable, “no-nonsense” judge. He’s living up to his billing.
It come as no surprise to those who have seen him in action in the face of the defendants’ bizarre behavior that it has failed to melt the judge’s glacial calm. Even as he was ejecting the defendants from a hearing, Older, 52, retained his usual composure.
“He’s his own man,” says one attorney who has appeared before him several times. “You could call him courageous. I’d call him stubborn.”
Tall and dark-haired with the polished handsomeness of a corporation executive, Older is known as a strong judge. Normally expresssionless in court, he leans back in his chair as he listens to arguments, a finger resting on his cheek. His rulings come quickly, in a matter-of-fact, modulated voice.
If an attorney persists in objections, Older may snap, “Sit down.”
He threatened last week in the Sharon Tate killings trial to have Manson’s attorney removed by bailiffs if he kept interrupting questioning of potential jurors.
“Personally, I find him cold and aloof,” says one acquaintance. “He has no sense of humor.”
Some say he has become more stolid of late – with reason. The Tate case is by far his most prominent and most complicated trial since he was appointed to the bench by Gov. Ronald Reagan in December, 1967.
Older has said it may take as long as six months to hear all the evidence. Manson, 35, Susan Atkins, 21, Leslie Van Houten, 20, and Patricia Krenwinkel, 22, are being tried jointly, charged with murder—conspiracy in the slayings of the beautiful, blonde actress and six other persons last August.
Older, a native Californian, is a graduate of Beverly Hills High School, the University of California at Los Angeles and the University of Southern California law school.
As a lawyer he specialized in civil cases, mostly involving business, corporate and aeronautical law.
During World War II, Older was a fighter pilot who flew with the Flying Tigers and with the U.S. Army Air Corps in the China — Burma — India theater. He returned to service as a pilot during the Korean War as pilot and operations officer for an Air Force bomber wing in Korea and Japan.
He is married and has three grown daughters.
Superior Court officials were reluctant to talk about Older, saying he had ordered a strict ban on publicity and made “a firm rule that he will grant no interview of any kind during this trial.”
He has rebuked attorneys in chambers for making comments to newsmen outside the room. And last week, he told Vincent Bugliosi, one of the prosecutors in the case, “You will not make any observations for the press in this courtroom.”
Bugliosi said in court he feels Older rules very much by the book.
“I have learned this court’s reliance on judicial precedent and authority,” said Bugliosi, after losing a request which would have broken precedent if granted. Apparently, Older is unlikely to change the lawbooks during this case.
One example of his adherence to precedent was his action when Manson and the three girls turned their backs on him, and later assumed a crucifixion pose with their arms extended and heads bowed.
Older quickly ejected them. Then came loud objections by both defense attorneys and prosecution. They said the defendants had been “insulting,” but certainly not “disruptive” as required in a recent Supreme Court decision allowing the ejection of unruly defendants.
Older called the defendants to his chambers and told them if they didn’t behave he’d have bailiffs force them into their seats. Later, their actions brought in the bailiffs, and after an altercation Older ordered them ousted.
Through it all, the judge sat calmly, narrating in a monotone — for the record — the explosive drama erupting in his court.
The defendants now are back in the courtroom and the selection of a jury is going ahead.
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