Historical Trial Defense/Prosecution

Defense

Charles Manson is a sick man. I think everyone in here can agree on that. However you say he is sick for killing while I say he is sick for medical reasons. No one in his right mind would do the things he is accused of doing, and I intend to prove that. It is my strong belief as well as the belief of others that Mr. Manson is mentally unstable. Although Mr. Manson is my client I can openly talk about his insanity. I highly doubt that any members of the jury could possibly convict a man who is in dire need of medical attention! This is a man who truly believes in everything that he says. He honestly believes that the Beatles were talking to him in their able. He honestly believes that there is an “underground pleasure dome beneath Death Valley” where he and his Family will live until summoned after Helter Skelter. He honestly believed in the Helter Skelter plan. Throughout this trial I will be doing everything in my power to show to you, the members of the jury, that my client Mr. Manson is criminally insane. During this trial you will also notice that any physical evidence presented is all in regards to Mr. Manson’s Family Members and nothing on him.


Prosecution

Why should Charles Manson be convicted of murder? The better question is why he would not. From as early on as twelve years old Charles Manson has shown the communities that he has lived in that he has no desire to follow the laws and standards set by those communities. To simply describe Charles Manson all one would have to say is that he is a dictatorial psychopath. What he did was get together a group of easily influenced young women and men and convince them and command them to do all sorts of heinous crimes. The reason we are here today is because of him. He commanded the murders of seven people. Everyone in the Family was obedient to him to the point that they could be considered his own personal slaves which eventually led them to commit the seven Tate-LaBianca murders at his command. The evidence of Charles Manson’s control of the members of the Family will be presented to the court as circumstantial evidence that one the two nights that these murders took place Mr. Manson is the one who ordered them. There is no way that it can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Manson played a lead role in committing these murders. The prosecutions principle witness will be Ms. Linda Kasabian a member of the Family who was there the night these crimes took place, and who will give us a detailed play by play of the terrible events of the two nights in question. Throughout her testimony the prosecution will also be presenting the physical evidence: the gun, the rope, the clothing the killers wore on the night of the Tate murders and so forth, which you will see interrelates with her story. We would also like to point out that Manson’s passion for violent deaths and his anti-establishment state of mind are not the only motives for these murders. Our evidence will show that there is much more to it than that and that the motive for these murders is likely to be more bizarre than the murders themselves.