Girl Denies She Killed Actress
Associated Press, December 17, 1969
LOS ANGELES - A girl member of Charles Manson’s hippie-style clan has pleaded
innocent to murdering actress Sharon Tate and six others, and a prosecutor says
she may get a separate trial.
Susan Denise Atkins, 21, willowy and impassive, spoke a soft "Not guilty,"
then flashed a bright grin as she made her plea Tuesday before Superior Court
Judge William Keene.
Miss Atkins, Manson, 35, Charles D. "Tex" Watson, 24, Linda Kasabian, 20, and
Patricia Krenwinkel, 22, have been charged with five murders in the Tate case.
The county grand jury accused the same five, plus another girl clan member,
Leslie Van Houten, 19, of killing Leno LaBianca, 44, and his wife Rosemary, 38,
who owned a chain of Hollywood markets, in the LaBianca home the night after the
slaughter at the Tate estate.
If prosecutors decide to use statements from Miss Atkins, who has said she
was present at the killings, and if her attorneys request a separate trial for
her, then under the law she can’t be tried with the others, said Deputy Dist.
Atty. Aaron Stovitz.
Judge Keene set Miss Atkins’ trial for Feb. 9. He will hear pleas Monday from
Manson, Mrs. Kasabian and Miss Van Houten.
Miss Krenwinkel and Watson are in the process of being extradited from
Alabama and Texas respectively.
