COLUMBUS, OHIO, Oct. 19 – Charles Manson sits in a private cell in California today strumming a guitar and watching television. He lives a better life today than he did before he was convicted for the 1969 murders of eight persons, says the man who prosecuted him for those crimes.

The women who followed Manson and brutally stabbed the eight victims are serving life sentences in a “country club prison” in Southern California. They live two to a cottage, have three balanced meals a day, paint and play tennis.

“I find it a sad comment on our society that these people, convicted of the most outrageous crimes against mankind should be living better now than before they were caught, tried and convicted,” former prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi told a Columbus College audience Wednesday.

The prosecutor-turned-defense-attorney with bitterness in his voice, told the crowd of 400 spellbound students and faculty, his criticism of the American criminal justice system.

“We do not seek the truth anymore. The police don’t know the law, nor do the courts. We are too liberal with our objections and tend to acquit on technicalities rather than on the truth of innocence. The simple issue of guilt is no longer germaine,” the fierce, blue-eyed attorney said.

Bugliosi said he is disappointed in the law today because of its overriding concern for the criminal’s rights. The courts tend to lose sight of the victim’s suffering, he said.

“While Manson and his followers live peaceful lives in prison, the suffering of the victims’ families still goes on. Some of them, I know, will never get a good night’s sleep for the rest of their lives,” Bugliosi said.

The author of the book “Helter Skelter,” Bugliosi is now a Los Angeles defense attorney. He made the move after losing a bid to be LA district attorney, “the only job I ever wanted.”

Bugliosi’s role in the Manson trial has had a profound effect on his life. As a defense attorney, he now commands higher fees because of his notoriety. He is in demand as a speaker on college campuses and takes in about $2,000 per engagement.

Bugliosi travels the country three weeks out of the year and for his efforts makes about $20,000.

But the Manson case, he said, has had other, less pleasant effects on his life.

During the trial, Bugliosi was the subject of constant death threats. He was forced to hire a bodyguard to protect his family. Even today he said a few threatening letters still trickle in from sympathizers and Manson admirers.

While his best seller, “Helter Skelter,” has made him a wealthy man, Bugliosi said he is fighting several lawsuits filed by various participants in the trial. One defense attorney, he said, contends he was libeled in the book and is suing for $15 million.

Still, Bugliosi said his fame and fortune have given him the financial stability to be able to turn down many cases other defense attorneys would have to take.

“I don’t defend anybody I think is guilty unless there are mitigating circumstances,” he said. “I wouldn’t defend a drug pusher or a hit-man. But I might (defend) somebody who killed in passion.” He said he wouldn’t have defended Charles Manson.

Most of the Manson family killers were young girls. They dressed in black and, bearing sharp knives. moved through the Los Angeles night stabbing to death complete strangers.

On the walls of their victims’ homes they scrawled in blood the words “rise,” and “death to pigs.” On their victims bodies they carved the word “war.”

Most of the girls came from average homes. One was the daughter of a school teacher, another of an insurance executive and one was the offspring of a methodist minister.

Their leader, Manson, was a man who convinced them he was Jesus Christ reborn.

In 1969, Manson’s “family” of followers were known to have committed eight brutal murders. They claim to have killed 35 persons. They were all sentenced to die in the gas chamber but later that was reduced to life in prison. Their trial took nine and a half months and cost $1,025,000.

A morbid fascination with Manson’s Family and their crimes continues to this day. Bugliosi says the reason is that “they are the most bizarre murders in the annals of American crime.”

By ROBERT H. BORK JR.