• Manson Cool On Kasabian Bid

Manson Cool On Kasabian Bid

LOS ANGELES, Mar. 19 – Although another member of Charlie Manson’s “family” is reported to have turned state’s evidence in return for immunity from prosecution, the long-haired hippie leader claims it is no surprise and doesn’t make him mad.

“I didn’t really know Linda (Kasabian) too well,” he said in a Wednesday interview.

“I didn’t know her well enough to tell her to go out and kill eight or 10 people — or however many it was.”

“Linda was just at the ranch about two weeks. Then she stole my car and left her baby.” He said she returned to the Spahn Ranch two months later to pick up her baby but never returned his car.

Mrs. Kasabian is reported to have offered to testify against Manson and four others involved in the murders of actress Sharon Tate and six others in return for immunity from prosecution. Both her attorney and the prosecution lawyers deny the report.

“The girl (Mrs. Kasabian) has been under pressure from the district attorney’s office for the past three weeks that I know of,” Manson contends. “In fact, her attorney has convinced her that he loves her and when the case is over he will buy a boat and they’ll get her two children and sail off into the sunset.”

One of Manson’s biggest complaints is that he was never allowed to talk with Mrs. Kasabian, even when he was conducting his own defense. But channels of communications between the two, as well as between other members of the “family,” have functioned nevertheless.

“This isn’t really a surprise,” Manson said. “It’s the same thing they did to Sadie (Susan Atkins, the informant whose testimony led to the indictment of Manson and five other family members).”

What bothers Manson most, he says, are three motions which are to be argued today in Superior Court on his behalf. Manson doesn’t like any of them and claims his attorney, Charles Hollopeter, has filed them over his strong objections.

The motions call for a severance of Manson’s case from those of the other five defendants, a continuance, and the appointment of a psychologist to determine Manson’s sanity.

“I don’t want my case severed from the rest,” he said. “We want to be tried together. And as far as a continuance, I’ve kept asking that my trial begin. I asked that it begin within 60 days of my indictment — that’s the law — but I didn’t get it, I don’t want a delay or a continuance. I’m ready now.”

The appointment of a psychologist to determine his sanity is scoffed at by the bearded hippie leader as “just another game they play. It’s all part of their routine.”

Manson defended his actions at his last courtroom appearance before Judge William Keene — which had been called “incoherent’ by some observers.

“You know when a man says he’s god, there’s three ways you can treat him,” Manson observed. “You can say ‘No, you’re not,’ but when he puts a knife to your throat, he’s got the upper hand. The second way is to say ‘OK, you can be god for a while.’ The third way is what I did. When he talked, I didn’t listen and just brought up something else. This isn’t incoherent. It’s treating him the way he treats you.”

Mrs. Kasabian, who two weeks ago gave birth to her second child, broke down when taken to the Tate murder scene this week, leading to reports that she would back up the story told earlier by co-defendant Susan Atkins.

Miss Atkins’ testimony before the county grand jury led to the indictment of six members of the nomadic cult led by Charles Manson.

Mrs. Kasabian’s attorney, Gary Fleischman, today denied that his client had been offered immunity, saying immunity “can only be granted by a superior court order. As yet, prosecutors have not asked that the court do so.”

Both prosecutors, Dep. Dist. Atty. Aaron Stovitz and John Bugliosi, also have denied having offered immunity to the girl.

Fleischman, however, couched his denial with the statement that if his client should be offered immunity she would accept it and “would have no choice but to testily.”

Fleischman said his client was completely innocent of any wrongdoing, and he “would advise her to tell the truth.”

By MARY NEISWENDER

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