The Closing Argument...

Linda testified that after Manson stopped for gas, a mile or two from Spahn Ranch, Manson instructed her to take over the driver's seat. Manson sat beside her and gave Linda instructions where to go. Nobody else in the car during the entire evening other than Charles Manson gave Linda Kasabian any instructions or directions whatsoever on where to drive that car. Manson directed her to get on the freeway. Eventually she got off the freeway at the Fair Oaks turnoff in Pasadena. Once in Pasadena, Manson continued to give Linda directions, but there did not appear to be any specific house Manson had in mind. She testified his directions were, "A left here, a right here, turn around and go back, et cetera." Almost a half hour or so after arriving in Pasadena, Manson instructed Linda to stop the car in front of a home in a residential area. It was a middle-class one-story home that appeared to be in a Caucasian area.

"What happened after you stopped in front of this house?"
"Charlie got out of the car and told me to drive around the block."
"Did he get out of the car by himself?"
"Yes, he did."
"Did you in fact drive around the block?"
"Yes, I did."
"With the other people?"
"Yes."
"Did you come back to the front of the house?"
"Charlie was standing in approximately the same spot I left him, and he got back in the car."

Linda testified that after Manson got back in the car, they noticed a man and a woman a few houses away getting in or out of their car. Manson remarked that the man was too big. He told Linda to drive off. As they drove off she testified:

"Charlie told us that when he had walked up to the house and looked into the window that he saw pictures of children on the wall, and he said he couldn't do it, he couldn't go in, but he said later on that we shouldn't let children stop us for the sake of the children of the future."
'Was Mr. Manson continuing to give you directions?"
"Yes, he was."
"Where did he direct you to drive at that point?"
"I don't know the district or the areas, but residential areas, houses, and we came to one point, I remember I was really tired, I just could not drive anymore, so he just took over the driving and then I remember we started driving up a hill with lots of houses, nice houses, rich houses, and trees. We got to the top of the hill and turned around and stopped in front of a certain house and we all looked at the house."

Linda testified that when they were parked in front of this house, Manson said that the houses were too close together; that was the reason that he gave for driving off.

Then he drove to a church in Pasadena. She said he pulled into the parking area of the church and remarked, she recalls, there were a lot of trees nearby. Linda said she was not positive, but she thinks Manson said something to the effect that he was going to go into the church and get a minister, a preacher or priest or whoever was in there. Manson got out of the car alone, walked to the door of the church, came back to the car, and said the doors were locked, so he drove off. After Manson drove off from the church, he then got onto the freeway. He eventually got off the freeway, and ended up on Sunset Boulevard in a residential area beyond the Sunset Strip. At that point, Manson instructed Linda to take over the driving.

"Did anything unusual happen while you were driving east on Sunset Boulevard in the residential area?"
"Yes, after I had been driving for a few minutes there was a small white sports car in front of us and there [were] stoplights here and there, and Charlie-"
"Do you know who was in the car?"
"I believe it was a man, one person."
"No one else was in the car with him?"
- "No, I don't think so."
"Did Mr. Manson say anything to you with respect to that car?"
"Yes, he did."
"What did he say to you?"
"He told me to follow it and at the next stoplight when it was green to pull up beside it."
"When the stop light was green?"
"I mean, excuse me, red, I get my colors mixed up. So that we were stopped. It would have been red, excuse me. Charlie wanted me to pull up beside the car, and Charlie was going to get out and kill the man, shoot the man, whatever."
"Did you in fact pull up next to this white sports car at a red light?"
"Yes, I did."
"Did Mr. Manson get out of the car or start to get out of the car?"
"He proceeded to get out of the car, yes."
"And what happened at that point?"
"The light turned green, so the car left."

And I think one point is abundantly clear, ladies and gentlemen, the only reasonable inference that can be drawn from Linda Kasabian's testimony, that up until the time of the white sports car incident, up until that point in time, Manson was looking for his victims totally at random.

You remember Harold True testified that Linda had been to the residence, to his residence the summer of 1968 with her husband.

"When had you been parked in front of that home prior to this occasion?"
"A year before, approximately, in July of 1968."
"What was the occasion for your being in that particular location a year earlier?"
"My husband and I and friends were on our way down from Seattle, Washington, to New Mexico and we stopped off in Los Angeles, and this one particular person knew Harold True, so we went to his house and had a party."
"Is this the house in front of which Manson told you to stop the car?"
"Yes, it is."
"Now, when Manson directed you to stop in front of Harold True's place, did you recognize the spot?"
"Yes, I did right away."
"Did you say anything to Manson with respect to this?"
"Yes."
"What did you say to him?"
"Charlie, you are not going into that house, are you?"
"Did he say anything to you when you said that to him?"
"Yes, he did, he said, 'No, I'm going next door.' "
"What was the next thing that happened?"
"He got out of the car alone."
"Did all of you remain in the car?"
"Yes, we did."
"What is the next thing that happened?"
"I saw him put something in his pants, an object, I don't know what it was."
"What is the next thing that he did?"
"He disappeared up the walkway, the driveway leading toward Harold's house, and 1 could not follow him any longer. He just disappeared."
"Several minutes?"
"Yes."
"What happened after Mr. Manson returned to the car?"
"He called Leslie and Katie and Tex out of the car."
"Was he out of the car at that point, too?"
"Yes."
"What happened next?"
"Sadie-excuse me-Clem [Tufts] jumped in the backseat with Sadie and I pushed over on the passenger side, and I heard bits and pieces of the conversation that he had with Tex and Katie."
"What did you hear him say?"
"I heard him say that there was a man and a woman up in the house, and that he had tied their hands and that he told them not to be afraid; that he was not going to hurt them."
"Did he say anything else to Leslie, Katie, and Tex?"
"Yes, at one point he instructed them, for Leslie and Tex, to hitchhike back to the ranch, and for Katie to go to the waterfall."

more on the closing argument