Policeman Tells Tate Home Drugs
Friday, August 21st, 1970
LOS ANGELES, Aug. 21 – Marijuana was found in Sharon Tate’s bedroom and living room and cocaine was found in the car of her former boyfriend after the actress and four others were slain at her mansion, a policeman said today.
Sgt. Michael McGann, homicide investigator called by the prosecution at the Tate murder trial, said that during a search after the killings in August of 1969 he found 75 grams of marijuana in a living room cabinet and 30 grams of hashish in a bedroom night stand. Hashish is a potent variety of marijuana from the Middle East.
A gram of cocaine was found in the sports car of victim Jay Sebring, Hollywood hair stylist who was once engaged to Miss Tate, wife of film director Roman Polanski.
McGann said the marijuana was in a plastic bag, about half full.
McGann took the stand after the judge in the case took a personal look at county jail conditions which Charles M. Manson has called barbaric.
Manson, leader of a hippie-type clan, is on trial in the case with three women followers.
McGann said the Tate home appeared not to have been ransacked, and money in plain view was not stolen. He said there was $18 on a night stand, small amounts in purses and wallets and $80 in a pocket of Sebring’s jacket, hanging on a chair.
A star state witness at the trial. Linda Kasabian, has testified that one member of a group that went on a murder mission to the Tate home came out clutching $70. The state has said that one victim, coffee heiress Abigail Folger, tried to persuade the killers to take money and spare the victims.
McGann said Miss Folger’s purse found in a bedroom, contained $9.64. He added that $9 was found in the pocket of victim Steven Parent, killed in his car outside the house.
At a hearing on a Manson motion for an end to practices he says interfere with preparation of his case, Superior Court Judge Charles H. Older commented: “I want to see precisely the conditions under which Mr. Manson is permitted to interview witnesses.”
He adjourned the hearing, held in advance of the regular court session, to go up a few floors to the Hall of Justice jail area for his inspection. He said the would rule on the motion Monday.
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