Burton Katz and the First Grogan Trial

Burton Katz worked for the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office as a Deputy District Attorney. He was the prosecutor for Bobby Beausoleil's second trial in 1970. In 1971 he was the lead prosecutor for both of Steve Grogan's trials for the murder of Shorty Shea.

In Katz book Justice Overruled, 1997 Warner Books, he relates why a mistrial was declared in Grogan's first trial. Newspaper articles hint that the mistrial was because of something Nancy Pitman, aka Brenda McCann, said while on the witness stand. There is a little more to it than that. Here is the story from Katz's book, pages 167-175.

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Scared Off by the Manson Family

In many ways, the worst judges are not the corrupt or crazy ones. The worst are decent, well-meaning judges who are just not up to the job. The first time I tried Steven Grogan for the murder of Donald "Shorty" Shea, the case ended in a mistrial because Judge Joseph Call could not keep going when things got rough. When you were dealing with the Manson Family things could get rough.

Judge Call had been appointed to the bench over thirty years before the Grogan trial. Few lawyers were willing to risk a complicated case before Judge Call. As luck would have it, we drew him for Grogan. We reluctantly agreed to Judge Call. It was to prove a costly mistake for both the defense and prosecution.

During the trial, Nancy Pitman, (aka Brenda McCann), "Squeaky" Fromme, Mary Brunner, Sandra Good, and other Manson Family members slept out and "held court" on the corner of Temple and Broadway, just outside the Hall of Justice. 

Each morning, outside my office, I would encounter the Family huddled together picnic-style, looking like innocent suffragettes bonding together for the cause. The Manson girls were as schizophrenic and enigmatic as Charlie himself. Sometimes they were pleasant, even coyly flirtatious. They would invite me to go camping with them at Spahn Ranch so they could reindoctrinate my misguided and corrupt establishmentarian ways of thinking. When things were going poorly for Charlie, they were menacing and dark-spirited, rubbing the sheath knives they kept lashed to their hips. They were always strangely entertaining, shrouded in mystery, myth, and rumor.

During the Grogan trial, a fierce rumor floated about that the Manson Family was going to free Manson, Steve Grogan (the defendant in my trial), and Tex Watson. Death threats had been directed at Judge Call and everyone else involved in the trial- even at the defense attorneys. Security was beefed up. Undercover cops were sprinkled throughout the audience. I was told I was to dive under the counsel table if a shootout started, because I was (as they delicately put it) "expendable" in any court shootout. The cops' priority was to protect the judge. The DA's bureau assigned a personal bodyguard to protect me, and my family, and armed me with a snub-nosed .38, which I carried strapped under my arm. We were all edgy. But Judge Joseph Call came completely unglued. It started in the judge's own chambers.

Fearful that Grogan would accuse him of something sinister if a chambers hearing occurred outside Grogan's presence, Judge Call allowed the defendant to be present in chambers during a discussion with counsel. The judge sat there nervously, jiggling some coins. Grogan sat only a few feet away. As the judge attempted to reassure Grogan everything he could do to provide a fair trial, Grogan suddenly moved. He knelt in front of the startled judge, his hand on the judge's knee- like a supplicant with a beatific smile, kneeling before Christ. We all stared, transfixed. At that moment Grogan could have killed him. The judge's face was ashen; his hands shook. Before the bailiff could help, the judge looked at Grogan for reassurance and said in a quivering voice, as if to convince himself: "Steve doesn't mean anything by it." Grogan, looking up at the judge and still smiling, gently replied: "It's oaky, Joe, I know you're just trying to be fair... you'll do the right thing." From that moment on, the judge began to unravel. All he wanted to do was to get out of trying this case. The only way he could do that was to declare a mistrial. You will probably not be surprised that he found a way to do just that.

Things might have settled down, had there been no further incidents. But that was not to be. Several Manson Family members, including Mary Brunner and Catherine Share (aka Gypsy) tried to rob a gun store. In the ensuing gun battle with the people, over fifty rounds of ammunition were fired, but miraculously no one was seriously hurt. Manson Family lore has it that Gypsy's bra was shot right off of her by police gunfire ripping through the getaway van in which she was waiting. The police did find a bloody bra in the bullet-ridden van, which amazed me. To my knowledge, Gypsy had never previously been sighted wearing a bra. Following their arrest, an additional cache of weapons was recovered- weapons that were to be used in freeing Charlie Manson and his faithful followers.

Needless to say, we were all on edge as we began the third month of trial. The stage was now set for the showdown on the stand with Brenda McCann. McCann was an important witness because she was present during a conversation between Grogan and Paul Watkins, a Manson Family member and close confidant of Charles Manson.

After surviving a mysterious trailer fire that nearly took his life, Watkins turned state's evidence. He believed Manson was behind the fire, and he was probably right. As a government witness, he had testified to a stunning confession made by Grogan in that conversation. You have read part of it earlier:

Charlie told me to cut his [Shorty Shea's] head off. So, I had this big machete and I chopped his head off and it went bloop, bloop, bloop and rolled out of the way...it was really groovy...

Grogan told Watkins that he had blood spattered all over him, and it was all warm, and he had it all up his arm.

Watkins then asked Grogan if he felt guilty. Grogan replied,

Any guilt I have is my changes [a term used in scientology] because in reality one baby should be able to kill another baby and then reach over and eat his shit... any guilty I have is something I have to work out with myself.

Defense attorney Charles Weedman called Brenda McCann as a witness in an effort to refute the damning confession. She claimed she had heard the same conversation, and denied that Grogan had ever confessed to the murder of Shorty Shea. In an effort to discredit Watkins, she claimed he boasted he was avoiding the draft by feigning mental instability, epilepsy, and seizures. Further, she said that Watkins he had learned to mock up cancer in his lungs so that an x-ray would reveal a black spot! She also added that he claimed to be a homosexual. The last point was hilarious inasmuch as the jury had just observed the extremely handsome and youthful Watkins on the stand for several days, regaling them and the court with his tales of lust for the Family females, who, like honey attracting bees, had induced this adventuresome youth to join the family. Watkins testified,

Well, when I first met Charlie, I was all alone and I wandered into a house and then there was Charlie and a couple of guys and ten girls, and that was what I had been looking for. I knocked on the door and three girls met me at the door, and right away I recognized the smell of marijuana, and they asked me to come in. And so, then I went in, it was [sic] some people didn't have their clothes on, and so right away I felt the free atmosphere, and I was overcome by a feeling of this is what I was looking for.

Watkins was as homosexual as John F. Kennedy. I began my cross-examination. I wanted to show the jury this witness was completely untrustworthy because of her Manson affiliation. The attitude of the "family" towards conventional values was summed up as follows in their own words:

Whatever is necessary, you do it. When somebody needs to be killed, there's no wrong. You do it, then you move on. And you pick up a child and you move him to the desert. You pick up as many children as you can and you kill whoever gets in our way. That is us.

Virtually from my first question, I knew it was not going to be easy, as Charles Weedman and the court kept jumping in. I began to focus on the subject of her being a member of the Manson Family, and her obvious loyalties and biases. Here is some of that testimony:

KATZ: [Y]ou understand at this time Mr. Grogan is on trial for his life, don't you?

McCANN: Yes.

KATZ: You understand the significance of your testimony, don't you?

McCANN: yes.

KATZ: You understand... if the jury believes you, they might acquit the defendant; isn't that right?

McCANN: Yes.

Manson and his followers had disavowed society's rules and laws; they X'ed themselves out of society. I explained to the judge that, during the Tate-LaBianca trials, Charles Manson, Susan Atkins, Katie Krenwinkel, and Leslie Van Houten had carved X's on their foreheads. Other Family members quickly followed suit, symbolizing the Family's rejection of society's rules and conventions. Hence, I felt it appropriate to ask whether Brenda recognized her duty to tell the truth under oath.

KATZ: [Y]ou would do anything you could, you would lay down your life for Clem [Grogan]; wouldn't you?

McCANN: Yes.

KATZ: As a matter of fact, Brenda, with respect to the so-called establishment and society as we know it, you have X'd yourself out from society, haven't you?

WEEDMAN: Oh, Your Honor, for heavens sakes. How long is this going to go on?

The court said it was not a proper cross. Then I asked her if she believed in the law against perjury. More objections were sustained by the court. Now I turned my attention to the actual conversation between Grogan and Watkins. On direct, I had deliberately refrained from asking Watkins about the entire conversation in which Grogan and McCann had talked also about killing Frank Retz, who owned the property next to Spahn Ranch. Retz had physically thrown Manson off his property and advised George Spahn strongly to kick the Family off Spahn Ranch. He was regarded as an enemy of Manson. I believed that this information was irrelevant to the confession and arguably too prejudicial. However, when Weedman made a tactical mistake in asking Brenda McCann on direct whether she had described the whole conversation, to which she replied yes, the door was open wide enough to accommodate two elephants and a rhino. The law allowed me to elicit the entire conversation, which included the damning death threats to Retz. I asked McCann whether she and Grogan had talked about killing Frank Retz. Of course, I expected her to lie about it, and she did. Before I could ask a follow-up question, Weedman jumped up and asked to go into chambers. The testimony was reread. Weedman argued that this was impeachment on a collateral matter and highly prejudicial. He then made a brief argument and a halfhearted motion for a mistrial. Judge Call had been terrorized with the news of the gun-store shootout just five days earlier. Weedman’s mistrial motion was just what the judge had been waiting for – a way to get himself out of this case.

The judge started talking about a whole series of small matters he claimed were prejudicial, things that had not even come up as objectionable at the time of the testimony, things that were not even the basis of Weedman’s motion. What is absolutely amazing is that he was ignoring virtually indestructible, well-settled rules of evidence. I asked for a recess so I could prepare a brief on the law permitting such questions to be asked. This was summarily denied. It was clear where Judge Call was going, and he wanted no impediment to his decision to jettison the case by declaring a mistrial. The judge said, “I am serious on the question of a mistrial. I am serious about it. I think it is highly prejudicial, highly inflammatory, and it can’t be otherwise.”

Dejected, I went home. The next morning, I appeared in court. Weedman and I were locked out of chambers for two hours. I had case citations with me establishing that my cross-examination about Retz had been entirely proper. But Judge Call never heard about those citations because he did not want to hear anything that interfered with his decision to get out of the case. At 10:50 A.M. we were ushered into chambers. The judge immediately started picking over the entire transcript of the previous day’s proceedings. He read into the record minor points having nothing to do with the subject of Weedman’s mistrial motion, and even alluded to questions asked of a witness other than McCann. This nitpicking went on for nearly three hours. Then the judge stated, “This is my final summation. I do grant the motion for a mistrial.”

As the old saying goes, you should be careful what you wish for, because it may become true. Wedman was horrified. I know he had moved for a mistrial. The judge had granted his motion. Why was he upset? In truth, a mistrial was the last thing he wanted. All he was trying to do was set up an issue on appeal. Basically, he had moved for the mistrial so he could argue to an appellate court later that he should have gotten a mistrial he did not really want. Defense lawyers do this all the time. This was nothing different. What was different was having such a weak motion granted by the court.

Weedman frantically tried to backpedal. First he asked the court if he could confer with his client before the jury was dismissed. The judge was ready to discharge the jury, but Weedman asked for another chambers discussion in which Grogan was present. Craftily, Weedman then told the judge that while he did not necessarily agree with his client’s assessment, Grogan had expressed “feeling that some of these matters could be sufficiently cured as to insure [sic] him a fair trial in this matter.” Weedman mentioned this this had been a long trial, and it had been a considerable strain on Grogan; who might disagree that a mistrial was necessary. Weedman had cleverly placed the court in a vise, on the one hand suggesting his client might object to a mistrial, even though he, as his lawyer, believed it was warranted. A declaration of mistrial over strenuous objection oof the defendant can result in double jeopardy, barring a retrial. The trap was being set.

Judge Call quickly began to reiterate, apparently for the benefit of Grogan, how devastating the supposed prosecutorial error had been:

Your jury is prejudiced. I’m telling you my opinion again. It is deadly. I think it has created irreversible prejudice in the minds of those folks. You should go out and get a new jury on this and a new judge; let somebody else rule on it. I’m out of it. I mean, in a new trial, they should get somebody else in.

Note Judge Call’s insistence that he personally should be removed from the trial. The usual rule is that the trial judge at the first trial also presides over the second. Because he is already familiar with the evidence and the law pertaining to that case, the rule saves time and makes good sense. But Judge Call was the senior judge. He was not worried about anyone junior to him telling him he had to retry this case. Not on your life.

Weedman took one last stab. First he told the judge he had no objection to his continuing in this trial. Then he was allowed to confer once again with Grogan. Upon returning, he asked that the court delay the discharge of the jury until the following Monday (it was Friday) with a view towards withdrawing his mistrial motion. The judge refused. The jury was dismissed. The case was over, as far as Judge Call was concerned. The jurors were confused, shocked. Not one juror understood the reason for the mistrial. Not one thought the question about Frank Retz was that important. Fortunately, the case was quickly reassigned to the very competent Judge James Kolts. He conducted a fair and expeditious trial. The case was tried swiftly and without incident to a conviction and a death-penalty verdict which Kolts reduced to life in lieu of granting a motion for a new trial.

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Steve Grogan after sentencing Dec. 23, 1971

Katz's account of why Grogan's death-penalty sentence was reduced to life is likely what is in the official records. We don't have the transcripts from that trial, only the first trial. The newspaper accounts of Judge Kolts, saying that Grogan was too stupid to have acted on his own, are an opinion and not part of the official record.

The Grogan File: Something is Missing.

 When I was a little kid my brother and I and our cousins used to walk about five blocks from my grandparent’s house to a little store on a main avenue in Detroit. We were not allowed to walk on the avenue, so we had to cut through a narrow alleyway to get there. 

In the back of the store the owner had some toys. More importantly he had this bin of boxes containing individual toy soldiers. These guys. 

 

The owner let us dig through the bin to our heart’s content as long as we bought something before, we left. If we didn’t find anything in the bin we would buy baseball cards. I always got crappy ones; you know, some unknown rookie or one of the Mets. But sometimes I found a pirate in the bin. 

 

The anticipation I had walking to that store back then returns every time I receive a notification from Cielodrive of a new document post. Sometimes it’s one of the Mets but sometimes it is a pirate. Thank you, Cielodrive. 

 

This one, I think, is a pirate. This is the file related to Grogan exposing himself to children. 

 

The_Grogan_FilePDF Document · 10.3 MB

 

What does the official narrative say about this incident? Well, that narrative would be the book, Helter Skelter and here is what Vincent Bugliosi had to say. 

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Grogan had been observed exposing himself to several children, ages four to five years. “The kids wanted me to,” he explained to arresting officers, who had caught him in the act. “I violated the law, the thing fell out of my pants and the parents got excited,” he later told a court-appointed psychiatrist. After interviewing Grogan, the psychiatrist ruled against committing him to Camarillo State Hospital, because “the minor is much too aggressive to remain in a setting which does not provide containment facilities.”

 

The court decided otherwise, sending him to Camarillo for a ninety-day observation period. He remained a grand total of two days, then walked away, aided, I would later learn, by one of the girls from the Family. 

 

His escape had occurred on July 19, 1969. He was back at Spahn in time for the Hinman, Tate, and LaBianca murders. He was arrested in the August 16 Spahn raid, but was released two days later, in time to behead Shorty Shea.

 

******

So we had virtually nothing on Clem. 

 

In going through Grogan’s file, I noticed that one of his brothers had made application for the California Highway Patrol; I made note of this, thinking maybe his brother could influence Clem to cooperate with us. DeCarlo had described Grogan in two words: “He’s nuts.” In his police photograph—big, wide grin, chipped front tooth, moronic stare—he did look idiotic. I asked Fowles for copies of the recent psychiatric reports. 

 

Asked, “Why do you hate your father?” Grogan replied, “I’m my father and I don’t hate myself.” He denied the use of drugs. “I have my own bennies, adrenalin. It’s called fear.” He claimed that “love is everything,” but, according to one psychiatrist, “he also revealed that he could not accept the philosophy of interracial brotherhood. Quotes supposedly from the Bible with sexual correlation were given in defense of his attitude.” 

 

Other quotes from Clem: “I’m dying a little every day. My ego is dying and knows he’s dying and struggles hard. When you’re free of ego you’re free of everything…Whatever you say is right for yourself…Whoever you think I am, that’s who I am.” 

 

The philosophy of Clem? Or Charles Manson? I’d heard the same thoughts, in several instances even identical words, from the girls. If the psychiatrists had examined one of Manson’s followers and, on the basis of such responses, found him insane, what of his leader?

 

Bugliosi, Vincent; Curt Gentry. Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders (p. 173-175). W. W. Norton & Company. Kindle Edition.

 

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The records confirm Helter Skelter. Grogan’s brother was indeed trying to get into the California Highway Patrol. The psychiatrists even confirm DeCarlo’s comment. Grogan was considered to be mentally unstable, receiving a diagnosis of schizophrenia. 

 

Grogan, as you know, was never charged with the LaBianca murders even though he was as guilty as Susan Atkins and the exact evidence that convicted Atkins of conspiracy to commit murder and thus murder would have also convicted Grogan. Certainly, this diagnosis could have influenced any DA to hesitate to charge Grogan on LaBianca. Grogan had a defense of insanity or diminished capacity confirmed by state psychiatrists and that just might influence the jury as to all of the defendants and especially Charles Manson, as Bugliosi noted. 

There is also something missing in the records that also caught Bugliosi's eye. He noted it: "The philosophy of Clem? Or Charles Manson?". Where is the Charlie Says (to borrow a movie title)? No mention of Manson appears in these records or in Grogan's comments. That's not what Bugliosi wants, or needs.

 

But something else is missing. Its not that something is missing from he file. The file is complete. But there is definitely something missing from Bugliosi’s narrative.

______

 

When I was in law school long ago, I had a first-year law professor who had been in the real world as a litigator for many years before some health issue forced his retirement. Even though his class had nothing to do with litigation (it was Contract Law), practically every class he would give us a tidbit about being a trial lawyer. He once pointed out that someday many of us would ‘troop into court’ with our witness outlines eager to begin our ‘scintillating cross examination’ of a witness. He then said “Stop! Listen first. What a witness does not say is more important than what they do say. Once you find that ask them ‘why’. Any jackass can answer who, what, when or where but ‘why’ is the tough one to answer and sometimes the answer reveals motivation.”

 

So, what is missing? Bugliosi knew precisely who the family member was who helped Grogan escape. We know that because he quotes the same documents we now have more than once. That family member was revealed, right here.

 

It was Linda Kasabian. She signed as Linda Drouin (her family name). She used Dennis Wilson’s address and listed herself as Grogan’s girlfriend when she visited him on July 19, 1969 about two weeks after she joined the Family. 

This too may also have something to do with why Grogan wasn’t charged. In the hands of a competent defense attorney this page pokes a hole in one of Bugliosi’s main themes: that Kasabian only went along on two nights of murder because she had a valid driver’s license. You know, the innocent hippy chick theme.

 

This document suggests, instead, that Kasabian was much closer to the inner circle of the Family pretty quickly after she got to Spahn Ranch and was at least involved in planning and executing Grogan's escape.  This made me rethink that courtroom comment "when are you going to tell your part" just a little.

 

Now, one could try to argue that the only reason she went to see Grogan is, again, because she was the only one who had a valid driver’s license. I hope Cielodrive will put this issue to rest for me but until he does, I don't think she had one. 

 

This is from a New Hampshire newspaper from May 1969. I used it in a post a half dozen years ago. The cite is there. I don't have it anymore. She wasn’t charged with driving without a license: ‘Oh, I must have left it at home’. She was charged with driving without a valid license. She pled guilty. She didn’t say ‘wait, here it is” when she got to court. She paid the fine. 

Now maybe she fixed that before she cut out to California a few weeks later. But I don't think she did.  

 

Deb reminded me of this. Thanks Deb. Remember that detective named Deemers? Remember his list? 

Deb: "Regarding Kasabian's driver's license, look at Deemer's list. While it is true that not a lot of Family members have driver's licenses there were members with licenses. Kitty Lutesinger, Dianne Lake, Tex, Nancy Pitman, Mark Ross, Claudia Smith aka Linda Baldwin, Leslie Van Houten to name a few of the inter-circle members. 

But if you look at Linda Kasabian's entry on Deemer's list, no DL#. 

I figure Deemer's list was compiled in November or early December 1969. You will notice that Tex is listed under the name Charles Montgomery. They still hadn't quite gotten the names straight. There're a couple other people who are listed by their alias and not their true name."

Kitty Lutesinger from the list: 

 

Deemers listed her Missouri address and noted the Missouri driver's license. 

And Kasabian: 

Deemers got her New Hampshire address right but something else is missing. Where is the "DL#"? 

Even in the unlikely event that her license was valid, that fact might explain her driving or riding along to visit Grogan, while Manson drove and a member of the inner circle like Brunner went inside to talk to Grogan but it does not explain why she was the messenger. Someone told her the escape plan or she already knew it and she was the one to pass it on to Grogan and probably even waited for him to make his break. 

Her visit is the same day he skipped out: July 19^th. The hospital noted their belief someone left Grogan a car. Tracing Linda Drouin would lead to Wilson's house and, of course she would not be there. But maybe they/she waited for him. How many cars did they have at the ranch? 

This page shows Kasabian as an active participant in the organization, planning and execution of Grogan’s escape (a crime by the way). I do not think Bugliosi wanted that to be part of the record, any record, including his own version when he did everything in his power to distance Kasabian from any such role including, specifically, disarming her at Cielo Drive.

 

I think Ms. Kasabian was a little more involved, a little closer to the throne so to speak, than we were led to believe by Mr. Bugliosi. I also think Bugliosi knew that and that is why he didn’t name the "one of the girls from the Family" who helped Grogan escape. “One of the girls from the Family” makes you think of someone other than Kasabian, doesn’t it? 

 

I tried to find where Bugliosi eventually identified this ‘girl’ in Helter Skelter. I searched the terms Grogan, Clem, escape, Camarillo, hospital and even Kasabian and Drouin and found nothing. If it is there somewhere I couldn’t find it. 

 

But even if I missed it and it is there, one could still ask ‘why didn’t you name her right there on page 173? I think the answer is obvious. 

 

Pax vobiscum

 

Dreath

Steve Grogan aka Garth Tufts and the Shotgun

 

Grogan and Todd courtesy of lapl.org

Inyo County District Attorney Frank Fowles had an agenda. I expect that he was a bit miffed that Los Angeles County had swooped up most of the people arrested in the Barker Ranch Raids. His county had spent a lot of time, manpower and money on the Manson Family and Los Angeles was getting all of the press. Few, if any, of the people arrested in Inyo County were convicted of anything in that county. They had either been released for lack of evidence or transferred to LA to face more serious charges.

By December 3, 1969 only 11 of those arrested remained in the Inyo County jail and the announcement had just been made that Charles Manson and a few of his Family members were responsible for the Tate and LaBianca murders.

 

One person that Fowles set his sights on was Steve Grogan. This letter sounds like he wanted Grogan in the worst way. By this time Grogan had been transferred to Los Angeles to answer for the stolen truck charges and the wanted charge for the escape from a mental hospital in Ventura County. Grogan settled both of those charges and had been frequenting the Los Angeles County Court House with other Family members.

August 3, 1970

 

Sergeant Paul Whitely

Homicide Bureau

Los Angeles Sheriff's Department

Hall of Justice

Los Angeles, California

 

Dear Paul:

                             Re: Randy J Morglea

The last time you were up here I mentioned that there was a Randy Morglea who was apprehended with Tufts during one of the California Highway Patrol raids which occurred on October 10, 1969.  Enclosed is a California Highway Patrol report concerning the particular raid, and on page 3, in the last paragraph, you will see Morglea's name mentioned.  Morglea was charged with possession of a sawed-off shotgun and when it appeared he was 15 years old he was certified as a juvenile.  Subsequently, he was sent to Patton State Hospital along with Dianne Lake under a conservatorship.  His treatment was terminated at Patton and he was released by our court into the custody of his mother.

I have received a request from Vincent Bugliosi to recharge Tufts, aka Steve Grogan, with the possession of the sawed-off shotgun.  The only possible defense would be that the shotgun was actually possessed by Morglea instead of Tufts.  A statement from Morglea would be very interesting and even an admission that the shotgun was possessed by Tufts would give me perhaps all I need to put Tufts away following a conviction when I re-file.

Sgt. Paul Whitely

Page 2

August 3, 1970

You indicated that you had never talked to Morglea, who also was known by the name Scott Bell Davis and Todd.  He was with the Family for quite a while and might have some interesting information for you.  In any case, when you question him, I would appreciate it if you slip in a question or two about who possessed the shotgun.  This would be very helpful to me and any statement in that regard would be valuable as the least I could do is use it as a prior inconsistent statement when he called as a witness.

His mother is a member of the "Fountain of the World" religious sect.  She appears to me to be a very nice lady although rather strange.  She is totally against Manson and I am sure she would help us any way she can.  Morglea is supposed to be with Mrs. Todd at this point.  Her address is as follows.

Mrs. Todd

Route 5 Box 523

Box Canyon Road

Canoga Park, California

 

Her phone number at her employment is Area Code 213-348-5161.  She also has a friend where she may be reached and her address is as follows:

Harriet Irving

27 Box Canyon Road

Canoga Park, California

Phone: (213) 347-9281

I am also including a psychiatric report on this boy for background information for you. If you have any luck and can help me out let me know.  We are all anxious to see Tufts put away.

 

Very truly yours,

Frank H. Fowles

District Attorney

*The psychiatric report on Morglea was not with the documents I received.

 

Apparently Frank Fowles did get his wish. Grogan was to appear in court, in Inyo County, for possession of the sawed-off shotgun November 11, 1970.

Fowles victory was short lived because on December 18, 1970 Grogan was released from the Inyo County jail to Los Angeles County to be charged and prosecuted for the murder of Shorty Shea.

By the time Grogan was paroled in 1985 the statute of limitations for the sawed-off shotgun charge had long since run out.

While I knew that Dianne Lake aka Diane Bluestein had been sent to Patton State Hospital, I did not know that Hugh Rocky Todd aka Randy Morglea had also been sent there. The first article in this post is dated December 3, 1969 stating that all 11 with charges pending were still in Inyo County’s custody, it was quite some time before they were sent to the state hospital apparently.

A previous post about the Fountain of the World quotes a December 11, 1969 article where Rocky Todd’s mother says that she has not seen or heard from her son since around October 1, 1969. That’s a long time for a juvenile not to have been identified and reunited with a parent. Rocky did not look particularly old for his age, he was only 15 years old.

Steve Grogan Probation Report

This is a transcription of a probation report for Steve Grogan dated June 30, 1970. It was ordered by the court after Grogan pleaded guilty to Section 10551 of the vehicle code (driving without the owner's consent) involving a truck he had rented from Doug's U-Rent in Woodland Hills CA. Grogan had not been charged in the murder of Shorty Shea as of the date of the report.

The report has a lot of background information on Grogan, there are details about him that I bet you never knew. It also explains the indecent exposure charge that led to him being committed to Camarillo State Hospital for observation. Grogan was charged with child molestation as well but the report does not address the molestation charge. The bottom line is that Grogan was not tried, much less convicted of either of the charges. The incident happened at his parents' home with adults present on June 11 1969. Ventura County terminated the case February 17 1970.

I've typed this report because it is not a great copy and is difficult to read but I'm also supplying a link to the actual report so that you can see I've faithfully transcribed it.

FOR THE COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES

PROBATION OFFICER'S REPORT

(As supplied by the defendant and substantiated in part by his father)

Defendant was born in Van Nuys, where he lived with his family until his early teenage years. Defendant last attended school at Simi High School, which he left after the 10th grade, at age 15. Defendant ran off with a young woman and lived with her for the next year. Upon his release from custody the defendant wants to try to get into college. He hopes to study communications or music. 

Defendant's father works for Holiday Hardware, Santa Susana. His mother is a registered nurse who is in college and studying social work. Defendant's 22-year-old brother and 15-year-old sister live with their parents. He also has a brother who is in the Highway Patrol Academy in Sacramento.

Defendant has never been married nor has he fathered any children. He has not served in the Armed Forces and has not registered with the draft board.

Until his arrest the defendant had worked as a ranch hand at the Spahn Ranch in Chatsworth. He received only board and room for his work. The defendant worked there since he was 16-years-old. It was there that he met and became associated with the "Manson Clan." Defendant has also worked as a service station attendant (for two months); a painter (periodically for six months); and a packer. At present the defendant has neither debts nor assets nor income. 

NARCOTICS AND INTOXICANTS

Defendant says he has used marijuana frequently in the past. He does not use alcoholic beverages.

ARREST RECORD:

SOURCE OF INFORMATION:

CII.

JUVENILE HISTORY:

6-5-67 LAPD- 602 WIC. 11530 H&S (possession of marijuana)- counseled and released.

8-12-67 LAPD- 484 PC (shoplifting)- 9-29-67, bail forfeiture.

4-5-69 SO Los Angeles- Grand theft money and prowling- 4-8-69 released insufficient evidence.

5-20-69 LAPD- 487.3 (Grand theft auto)- D.A. Reject.

6-11-69 SO Ventura- 647A/314 PC (child molesting and indecent exposure)- Referred to Ventura County Probation Dept.

(Ventura County Probation Department referred the defendant to Camarillo State Hospital for observation. The defendant escaped from the hospital after being there for only a few days. The probation case was terminated on February 17, 1970. Defendant said that his offense occurred while he was visiting his parents' home. He was wearing rat-eaten trousers with a large hole in them. He said his genitals accidentally became partially exposed while he was playing with the children. The mother of one of the children observed this, and after talking to her neighbors called the police. The defendant categorically denies that he deliberately exposed himself.)

8-16-69 SO Los Angeles- Grand theft auto- D.A. reject.

10-10-69 SO Independence- 272 PC, 496 PC, 12020 PC, 10851 VC, Escape from state mental hospital- 12-5-69, Dismissed in the interest of justice, released to Los Angeles County on their homicide warrant.

12-5-69 LAPD Warrant 487.3 PC; 10851 VC - present offense. 

PRESENT OFFENSE:

On June 3, 1970 defendant appeared in Department-D of the Los Angeles Superior Court and entered a plea of guilty to the charge of violating section 10851 of the vehicle code (driving without owners consent), deemed a misdemeanor, matter has been continued to instant case for probation and sentence hearing.

The deputy probation officer assigned to this case has not been able to obtain a transcript of the preliminary hearing. From the district attorney's file, the following appears to have occurred:

On October 4, 1969 the defendant rented a 1966 one-ton truck from Doug's U-Rent, 20956 Ventura Boulevard, Woodland Hills. Rental period was for one day. Defendant did not return the truck. The truck was recovered by the highway patrol in Death Valley on October 14, 1969. The truck has been returned to the owners. Defendant rented the truck under an assumed name, Tufts.

DEFENDANT'S STATEMENT:

Defendant's written statement is attached to this court report. He writes that he rented the truck knowing that he could not possibly return it within 24 hours. Defendant writes, in part, "Now I know this was wrong, but at the time I was not thinking, and this is the price I have to pay. If I was granted one more chance, this mistake will never happen again. I plan to go back, and live with my parents and go to school and try to work my way through college."

Defendant told the probation officer that he rented the truck to deliver food and camping equipment to Charles Manson and others who had gone to the desert. They gave him money and asked him to buy various items and bring them to Death Valley. On the way there the truck got stuck in sand and rocks. The defendant said he was unable to get it out. He said he neglected to summon help immediately or to inform the owners of the truck's condition. Several days later the defendant was arrested.

Regarding the future, the defendant said he will try to get into college. He wants to return to the home of his parents and stay there. The defendant realizes that his present troubles have been caused, for the most part, by his association with less than desirable companions. Defendant categorically denies involvement in any further criminal activities. He also said that he was not a member of any "Family." He was living at Spahn Ranch before Charles Manson moved there. Defendant denies that he was a follower of Charles Manson in any fashion.

INTERESTED PARTIES:

Doug's U-Rent informed the probation officer that the defendant made full restitution for the damage to the truck and the expense incurred in its transportation. This restitution amounted to something over $700.

Defendant's father said he would like to have his son return home. He said the door has always been open for his son. The defendant has been away from his home since he was 15-years-old. Regarding the defendant's emotional condition, his father believes he is emotionally balanced. He said his son has always been a very idealistic boy. The probation office asked the defendant's father concerning the charge of child molesting and indecent exposure in Ventura County on June 11, 1969. The father believes that the exposure was unintentional. He said his son always liked children and has never shown any signs that he would do harm to them.

Attached to this report is a letter from the investigating police detective.

EVALUATION:

The defendant left home at age 15. For a year he lived with a woman six years his senior. When he was 16 years old he went to live at the Spahn Ranch, where he was given board and room for the work he did. Defendant has lived without adequate supervision for the past three years.

Defendant appeared to be quite cooperative during probation investigation. Probation officer could discover no signs of emotional imbalance. Regarding the present offense, the defendant is fully admitting that he could have obtained help to free the truck so that it could be returned to the owners. Defendant has made full restitution for the financial damage to Doug's U-Rent.

The defendant's offense has been deemed a misdemeanor. At the time of his sentencing, the defendant will have spent approximately eight months in custody.

The best plan for the defendant would be to place him under supervision. He should be required by the court to remain in the home of his parents until allowed by the probation officer to move to a different residence. Hopefully, this will have the effect of removing the defendant from associating with less than desirable companions. Certainly such association is a major factor in the defendant's involvement in the present offense. Furthermore the defendant should be required to seek and maintain full-time employment or school.

RECOMMENDATION:

It is therefore recommended that probation be granted under the following terms and conditions:

1. Spend a suitable time in county jail.

6. Not use or possess any narcotics or narcotic paraphernalia and stay away from places where addicts congregate.

7. Not associate with known narcotic users or sellers.

15. Seek and maintain employment as approved by probation officer.

19. Obey all laws, orders, rules and regulations of the probation department and of the court.

Maintain residence in the home of his parents until allowed to change that residence by the probation officer.

Respectfully Submitted,

Kenneth E. Kirkpatrick

Probation Officer

By H.L.D.

Harry L. Dawson, Deputy

East San Fernando Valley Office

(Dictated 6-30-70)

HLD:EJ (6)

I have read and considered the foregoing report of the probation officer.

Judge of the Superior Court.

The Goodbye Helter Skelter Podcast Episode #7

George Stimson posted a new video last week, The Murder of Donald "Shorty" Shea. Above is Donald Jerome Shea on the 1940 census with his family. First grade. Probably still smiled in school photos. The world hadn't had a ton of time to chew him up and spit him out yet. 

Good, bad, whatever. Every direction you turn in this milieu is filled with heartbreak. The bad guys are bad. The good guys are bad. Everyone is bad. 

Bruce Davis claims in a clip from a parole hearing that Tex Watson asked/told him to join in the killing of Shea. According to Davis, Bill Vance was present when Tex said this but decided not to take part in the murder. Instead, he stepped over to the canteen for the ice cream Charlie always talked about. 

You know the story. Shorty is driving. "Hey, pull over." Clem hits him with a wrench. BOOM! Tex and Clem drag dazed Shorty from the car. Charlie arrives in another car with a machete. 

Bruce "touched Shea's neck with the machete" but "couldn't do what he (Charlie) wanted me to do." Always willing to compromise, Bruce sliced Shea from his armpit to his collar bone. 

Charlie's version of events is Shorty was a big dude, a bully, and he was pushing Clem and someone else around. In a clip Stimson included from Manson's 1992 parole hearing, Stephen Kay (from his mother) has the board ask Charlie about his role in Shea's murder. Consistent in his refusal to to acknowledge California's conspiracy and aiding and abetting laws, in my opinion because of his mental illness, Charlie places himself at the scene and admits to rendering Shea immobile. 

"I'm gonna show you kids how to do this one time. And then don't invoke me to no violence anymore." 

"And uh I moved on Shorty and I put him in a situation where he couldn't move. And then I said, now can you understand what I'm saying to you? And he said yeah. And I stepped up on the highway and hitchhiked a ride and about three, four minutes later somebody stabbed him, and he was stabbed to death and he was killed." 

Inaudible from board. 

Charlie again. "Now, wait a minute. Anybody that knows anything about combat knows that when you go into a combat situation and you're on the line with something, that line can mean your life or your death. If you're on the line of life and death and you're gone and you're up on another line that other reality is a completely different reality -- it hasn't got anything to do with the other side of that line. I was on that side of the line and it was a violent situation and I did deal with it and I put it into where it was -- let me say this, there's only one way I can explain it...The Duke in the joint is a guy that can fight with his fists. The Cou..."

Board begins to interrupt. 

Manson stops them. "Wait a minute. Let me explain this. This will explain it. The Count is somebody who don't fight with his fists. He fights with his mind. He sets up on top of the count when the count is clear, he runs the radio. And the Duke does all the physical things like the first cop does his level, then the sergeant..."

"Mr. Manson..."

"I can't explain it to you, man. It don't have a yes or no."

"The question was did you kill Shorty Shea?"

"No no no. I didn't have anything..."

"You didn't personally kill Shorty Shea?"

"Not personally, no."

"Did you order him to be killed?" 

"No. It was a fight, man. It was uh..."

"Did you order him to be killed?"

"No."

-------------

I've been reviewing Charlie's medical reports the last several days. Did you know certain doctors were against moving Manson to a hospital facility for decades because they claimed Charlie was faking or exaggerating his schizophrenia? 

This was supposed to be Manson at his best and he acts bonkers. There's clearly a problem. His freedom was on the line but not really. Charlie, Kay, and the Board all knew this was a simple parading of a crazy man before a laughing public. 

Sometimes, I struggle to see how we've advanced as race beyond Hammurabi. At least we've stopped feeding delusional people to lions, tigers, and bears for sport. Our dark amusements come from mocking the insane via YouTube these days. 

Oh well. The gang did what they did and life comes with consequences even when you think you live in a different reality. Word to the wise. Don't kill someone when you're mentally ill. We'll poke sharpened sticks through the bars of your cell and delight in watching you yelp until the day you die. 

*Steps down from soapbox. 

Anyway. What'd ya think of the new Stimson? +ggw