Charles Manson cult leader and murder
Charles Manson Jr.
Charles Manson  spent over 46 years in prison for the vicious murders of seven people in 1969  including actress Sharon Tate. After  his  lengthy trial and conviction   Manson  became a constant and morbid presence in pop culture. (Erin Patrick O'Connor/The Washington Post)
A prelude to the conflagration was the slaughter of the seven people in two affluent Los Angeles neighborhoods. Orchestrated by  Mr. Manson  on two successive nights in August 1969  the seemingly random killings were calculated to hasten the race war by making them appear committed by black militants. That  in turn   he  told  his  followers  would stir white sentiment against African Americans  triggering widespread violence by blacks.
Vincent Bugliosi  the hard-charging deputy district attorney who prosecuted Mr. Manson  described the  Manson  name as “a metaphor for evil.”
 Mr. Manson  was a study in stark contrasts. Small and scrawny   he  was also charismatic and held an almost hypnotic power over  his  followers  especially women. Some believed  he  was divine.
Investigators  academic researchers and journalists found  him  alternately erratic and focused  a proficient guitarist  a lover of animals  a racist and an anti-Semite with a left-leaning hatred of the “establishment” and corporate America and bitterness over  his  rejection by the music celebrity world of Hollywood.
 He  was not insane  but  he  could fake it and had an insatiable need to control others  prompting  him  to recruit naive and malleable acolytes to  his  family  according to behaviorists who studied  his  life.
“Basically  Manson was a coward ” Eric Hickey  dean of the California School of Forensic Studies at Alliant International University  told Maclean’s magazine in 2012. “ He  was the kind of guy who had other people do  his  bidding  and I think  he  really enjoyed taking advantage of people who were gullible.”
He married twice  first to a teenage waitress  Rosalie Willis  in 1955  divorcing in 1958. Then in 1959  he married a woman with a prostitution record named Leona “Candy” Stevens  according to prison records. That union also ended in divorce. A son from his first marriage  Charles Manson Jr.  who renamed himself Jay White  committed suicide in 1993. He had a son from his second marriage  Charles Luther Manson. He had at least one other child as well.
Prosecutors depicted  Mr. Manson  as the meticulous mastermind of the murders  and while family members acknowledged  his  planning role  they said  he  did not participate in the killings. The jury nevertheless found  him  equally culpable under California’s joint-responsibility rule.
 He  was also convicted for the July 1969 murder of Gary Hinman  and the August 1969 murder of Donald Shea  according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Charles Manson  spent over 46 years in prison for the vicious murders of seven people in 1969  including actress Sharon Tate. After  his  lengthy trial and conviction   Manson  became a constant and morbid presence in pop culture. (Erin Patrick O'Connor/The Washington Post)
A prelude to the conflagration was the slaughter of the seven people in two affluent Los Angeles neighborhoods. Orchestrated by  Mr. Manson  on two successive nights in August 1969  the seemingly random killings were calculated to hasten the race war by making them appear committed by black militants. That  in turn   he  told  his  followers  would stir white sentiment against African Americans  triggering widespread violence by blacks.
Vincent Bugliosi  the hard-charging deputy district attorney who prosecuted Mr. Manson  described the  Manson  name as “a metaphor for evil.”
 Mr. Manson  was a study in stark contrasts. Small and scrawny   he  was also charismatic and held an almost hypnotic power over  his  followers  especially women. Some believed  he  was divine.
Investigators  academic researchers and journalists found  him  alternately erratic and focused  a proficient guitarist  a lover of animals  a racist and an anti-Semite with a left-leaning hatred of the “establishment” and corporate America and bitterness over  his  rejection by the music celebrity world of Hollywood.
 He  was not insane  but  he  could fake it and had an insatiable need to control others  prompting  him  to recruit naive and malleable acolytes to  his  family  according to behaviorists who studied  his  life.
“Basically  Manson was a coward ” Eric Hickey  dean of the California School of Forensic Studies at Alliant International University  told Maclean’s magazine in 2012. “ He  was the kind of guy who had other people do  his  bidding  and I think  he  really enjoyed taking advantage of people who were gullible.”
He married twice  first to a teenage waitress  Rosalie Willis  in 1955  divorcing in 1958. Then in 1959  he married a woman with a prostitution record named Leona “Candy” Stevens  according to prison records. That union also ended in divorce. A son from his first marriage  [TGT]committed suicide in 1993. [TGT] had a son from [TGT] second marriage  Charles Luther Manson. [TGT] had at least one other child as well.
Prosecutors depicted  Mr. Manson  as the meticulous mastermind of the murders  and while family members acknowledged  [TGT]  planning role  they said  [TGT]  did not participate in the killings. The jury nevertheless found  [TGT]  equally culpable under California’s joint-responsibility rule.
 [TGT]  was also convicted for the July 1969 murder of Gary Hinman  and the August 1969 murder of Donald Shea  according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.