The Closing Argument...

Linda testified to life at the ranch. She said that the group that lived there was called the Family, and that she became a member of the Family. When I asked her what she meant when she said she was a member of the Family, she replied, "Well, we live together as one Family, as a Family who is living together, a mother and a father and children, but we were all just one and Charlie was the head." She said there were about twenty members of the Family, most of whom were young girls.

Manson told her about Helter Skelter and the revolution between the blacks and whites, and all nonblacks, including brown people, would be killed by the black men. Linda testified that Helter Skelter was a daily word in the Family, an everyday word used constantly. She said she even saw the word "Helter Skelter" painted on a jug in the parachute room.

Linda testified that she and all the girls worshiped Manson, that she loved him and thought he was Jesus Christ. She said Manson had a power over her and "I just wanted to do anything and everything for him because I loved him and he made me feel good, and it was just beautiful." When I asked Linda this question: Did you ever see or observe any members of the Family refuse to do anything that Manson told him or her to do? She replied: No, nobody did. We always wanted to do anything and everything for him. The girls used to tell Linda, the girls in the Family, used to tell Linda, "We never question Charlie. We know that what he is doing is right." In fact, Manson told Linda, when Linda joined the Family, "Never ask why."

It is rather obvious, ladies and gentlemen. It is rather obvious that when the sun set at Spahn Ranch on the night of August the eighth, 1969, the atmosphere at the ranch, the climate at the ranch, was such that neither Linda nor anyone else would have dared or even wanted to disobey any instructions given to them by Charles Manson. Linda testified that on the afternoon of August the eighth, 1969, the afternoon of the Tate murders, "he," referring to Manson "was telling us, that the people were not really together, they were just off on their little trips and getting together. So he came out and said, 'Now is the time for Helter Skelter.' "

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