Charles Manson is sentenced to death (later commuted to life imprisonment) for conspiracy in the Tate-LaBianca murders.
The TateLaBianca murders were a series of murders perpetrated by members of the Manson Family during August 810, 1969, in Los Angeles, California, United States, under the direction of Tex Watson and Charles Manson. The perpetrators first killed five people on the night of August 89: pregnant actress Sharon Tate and her companions Jay Sebring, Abigail Folger, Wojciech Frykowski, and Steven Parent. The baby later died of asphyxiation in Tate's womb. On the following evening, with Manson allegedly displeased about the chaotic operation of these murders, the Family then also murdered supermarket executive Leno LaBianca and his wife Rosemary in the Los Feliz section of Los Angeles.On the night of August 89, four members of the Manson FamilyWatson, Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel, and Linda Kasabiandrove from Spahn Ranch to 10050 Cielo Drive in Benedict Canyon, the home of Sharon Tate and her husband, film director Roman Polanski. The group murdered Tate, who was 8 months pregnant, along with celebrity hairdresser Jay Sebring; coffee heiress Abigail Folger; aspiring screenwriter and Folger's boyfriend Wojciech Frykowski; and Steven Parent, an 18-year-old visitor. Polanski was not home that night as he was working on a film in Europe. Manson was an aspiring musician who had tried to get a recording contract with record producer Terry Melcher, who was a previous renter of the house at Cielo Drive along with musician Mark Lindsay and Melcher's girlfriend Candice Bergen.
The following night, the four killers from the previous night, as well as Manson, Leslie Van Houten and Steve "Clem" Grogan, committed two more murders, with Manson allegedly saying he would "show them how to do it".:176184,258269 After considering various options for additional murders,:258269 Kasabian drove the group to 3301 Waverly Drive in the Los Feliz neighborhood, the home of the LaBiancas;:2225,4248 Manson left with Atkins, Grogan, and Kasabian, while Watson, Krenwinkel, and Van Houten proceeded to kill the couple in the early morning hours of August 10.
Charles Milles Manson (né Maddox; November 12, 1934 – November 19, 2017) was an American criminal who led the Manson Family, a cult based in California, in the late 1960s. Some of the members committed a series of nine murders at four locations in July and August 1969. In 1971, Manson was convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder for the deaths of seven people, including the film actress Sharon Tate. The prosecution contended that, while Manson never directly ordered the murders, his ideology constituted an overt act of conspiracy.Before the murders, Manson had spent more than half of his life in correctional institutions. While gathering his cult following, Manson was a singer-songwriter on the fringe of the Los Angeles music industry, chiefly through a chance association with Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys, who introduced Manson to record producer Terry Melcher. In 1968, the Beach Boys recorded Manson's song "Cease to Exist", renamed "Never Learn Not to Love" as a single B-side, but without a credit to Manson. Afterward, Manson attempted to secure a record contract through Melcher, but was unsuccessful.
Manson would often talk about the Beatles, including their eponymous 1968 album. According to Los Angeles County District Attorney, Vincent Bugliosi, Manson felt guided by his interpretation of the Beatles' lyrics and adopted the term "Helter Skelter" to describe an impending apocalyptic race war. During his trial, Bugliosi argued that Manson had intended to start a race war, although Manson and others disputed this. Contemporary interviews and trial witness testimony insisted that the Tate–LaBianca murders were copycat crimes intended to exonerate Manson's friend Bobby Beausoleil. Manson himself denied having instructed anyone to murder anyone.
Manson's notoriety as an emblem of insanity, violence, and the macabre influenced pop culture. Recordings of songs written and performed by Manson were released commercially, starting with Lie: The Love and Terror Cult (1970). Since his incarceration, various musicians have covered some of his songs. Although originally sentenced to death in 1971, his sentence was commuted to life with the possibility of parole after the California Supreme Court invalidated the state's death penalty statute in 1972. He served his life sentence at the California State Prison, Corcoran, and died at age 83 in late 2017.