SANTA ANA, May 12 — Charles Manson was described Tuesday as a “totally American product whose death is now being demanded by the society that produced him.”

The statement was made by Paul Fitzgerald, chief defense counsel in the trial of Manson, Patricia Krenwinkle, Susan Atkins and Leslie Van Houten — all condemned to death for the Tate-LaBianca murders.

Fitzgerald, speaking at a luncheon meeting of the Orange County Barristers Assn., said Manson was “a very bright guy,” but could read and write only on a third or fourth-grade level although he had spent 23 of his 36 years in institutions.

“He spent as long as 60 consecutive days in solitary confinement,” Fitzgerald said. “If society treats its charges that way, we are going to program killers.”

The attorney told his audience the girls were different from their leader in that they were total products of a middle-class society and had lived relatively crime-free lives.

He said Susan Atkins was the only girl convicted of a crime and was on probation from Oregon while Manson’s crimes covered a five-page “rap sheet.”

“Krenwinkle basically was a lonely sort of a kid and Manson made her think she was beautiful and gave her a real sense of belonging and love,” Fitzgerald said.

He said the other girls also had a feeling of alienation and loneliness until Manson gave them something new — forests, mountains, desert and a reorganization of relationships.

“I didn’t pick up anybody somebody hadn’t discarded,” Fitzgerald quoted Manson as saying.

“I don’t want to blame all this on the drug scene, but the girls took massive doses of psychedelic drugs – four or five tablets of acid at once, three to five times a week over two years,” Fitzgerald said.

“They had a blurred distinction between reality and fantasy. When they testified they appeared to feel their offenses were distant and unreal.”

Fitzgerald said the Manson case had more publicity than any other criminal case in U.S. history; more than Billy Sol Estes, Jack Ruby or Sirhan Sirhan.

“Oddly enough, the publicity started before the defendants were arrested,” he said. “The case had glamor, sex and involved the movie industry. There were 417 murders in Los Angeles last year, but Manson got the publicity.”

He contended that Manson and his followers were “indicted, tried and convicted” by the news media in “incredible and inflammatory” reports.

“They printed Manson’s rap sheet, and he was linked with almost every unsolved murder in the entire state,” Fitzgerald said.

“The chief of police went on television and said the case was solved.”

He said Manson was called “the bastard son of a prostitute” in the lead paragraph of one news story and headlines carried such terms as “Messiah of Sex and Sadism,” “Wanted Racial War,” “Cult Leader,” and “Black Magic.”

Fitzgerald said the defense attempted to get the trial held in San Francisco, Alameda County or Sacramento, mainly to “cripple the district attorney.”

“The district attorney is a very powerful man in Los Angeles County, but in Sacramento he would be just another lawyer,” Fitzgerald said.

The motion for a change of venue was successively denied by the Superior Court, Court of Appeal and the California Supreme Court.

Reason for the denials, the attorney said, was that the pretrial publicity had been uniform and pervasive throughout California and it would do no good to change.

“That comes dangerously close to saying the defendants could not get a fair trial anywhere in California,” Fitzgerald said. “If they couldn’t get a fair trial anywhere, the case should have been dismissed.”

Before giving his talk, Fitzgerald told the press, Manson was “disintegrating.”

“He has shaved his head and has a cross carved in his forehead. To him, the death penalty was the ultimate rejection,” he said.

By ROBERT M. GETTEMY