LOS ANGELES, Nov. 2 – When reporter William T. Farr got an exclusive story during the Manson Family murder trial, despite a court gag rule, six attorneys came under suspicion as the possible source of the leak, and Farr went to jail for not telling who his source was.

Two of the six lawyers Thursday sued Farr, arguing that they remain under a cloud of suspicion because he did not tell who leaked the information.

The two attorneys, Paul J. Fitzgerald and Irving A. Kanarek, also named in their $24 million suit two other attorneys, who they say are the ones guilty of leaking the story to Farr: Former Deputy District Attorney Vincent T. Bugliosi and attorney Dayne Shinn. The suit names five other defendants. The suit also accused Bugliosi and Shinn of perjury.

Bugliosi was the chief prosecutor in the trial of Charles Manson and four female followers for the Sharon Tate-Labianca murders. Shinn was defense attorney for one of the women, Susan Atkins.

The trial judge imposed a gag rule, forbidding any of the principals in the case from revealing information to newsmen. But reporter Farr obtained a story that Manson’s cult talked about killing Frank Sinatra, Elizabeth Taylor and other celebrities.

He went to jail for 46 days for contempt of court rather than reveal his sources, other than to say
the leak came from someone among the six prosecuting and defense attorneys in the trial.

All six denied under oath to the judge that they had given information to Farr in violation of the judge’s order.

Farr’s case is still pending, and he could be jailed for years for continued refusal to identify the source, which he has vowed never to do.

Fitzgerald and Kanarek charged in their suit that Bugliosi and Shinn gave the information to Farr and since then have “continuously, secretly requested and called upon…Farr to refuse and continue to refuse to reveal their true names.” They charged Bugliosi and Shinn perjured themselves by denying the leak under oath and demanded an injunction Farr to talk.

Bugliosi called the suit “absurd, a cheap shot at publicity by the lawyer that represented Charles Manson.”