◆ SpookStack

Declassified Document Archive & Reader
Log In Register
Reader Ad Slot
Reader Ad Slot placeholder
If you would like to support SpookStack without paying out of pocket, please consider allowing advertising cookies. It helps cover hosting costs and keeps the archive free to browse. You can change this choice at any time.

Charles Manson — Part 4

551 pages · May 09, 2026 · Document date: Aug 13, 1969 · Broad topic: Cults & Extremism · Topic: Charles Manson · 551 pages OCR'd
← Back to feed
Pitman, 20, sever tions including whether she and Grogan had ever discussed ‘ killing Frank Retz who owned a ranch adjoining the Spahn ranch where Manson and his "family" once lived. She denied ever having such a conversation with Grégan. ~ Weedman contended, and Cali by his ruling agreed, that the idea, that: Grogan might be guilty of another crime was preju- dicial and would prevent him from getting a fair tri- al on the Shea charge. | Informed of the district attorney's remarks, said that he could only point to the transcript of. the trial to illustrate that t eedi “replete” with Improper, Com Cali. S were" highly: prejudicial and bs flammatory’ questions - by Katz, ey "These questions would | have had such an effect on the minds of the jurors that a fair verdict could | not have been reached," the . judge said. - "These questions should never have. been asked. They were neither fair to the de- fendant nor to the people." Members of the jury la- } ter said that they largely ignored the implications “of K&tz' line of question- ing and reportedly agreed that they did not expect Miss Pitman to say-any- thing which would be da- maging to Grogan's de- fense. - ‘The prosecution con- tends that Shea, whose body has never been found, was killed because he had been suspected of being a: police informer and because Manson's group thought he had been hired to evict them from the Spahn ranch. After a lengthy period of jury selection, testimony: | —w- began in Grogan's case on | July 20. The prosecution | “completed its case on Aug. 19 after calling 33 wit- nesses, some of them brought here from out of state or from distant areas in California, at county ex-
OCR quality for this page
Community corrections
First editor: none yet Last editor: none yet
No user corrections yet.
Comments
Document-wide discussion. Follow the Community Standards.
No comments on this document yet.
Bottom Reader Ad Slot
Bottom Reader Ad Slot placeholder
If you would like to support SpookStack without paying out of pocket, please consider allowing advertising cookies. It helps cover hosting costs and keeps the archive free to browse. You can change this choice at any time.

Continue Exploring

Use the strongest next step for this document: continue reading, jump to the topic hub, or move into the matching agency collection.
Continue Reading at Page 457
Jump straight to page 457 of 551.
Reader
Charles Manson — Part 03
Stay inside Charles Manson with another closely related document.
Topic
FBI Documents & FOIA Archive
Open the FBI agency landing page for stronger archive context.
FBI
Charles Manson Topic Hub
See the topic overview, related documents, and linked subtopics.
Hub

Agency Collection

This document also belongs in the FBI Documents & FOIA Archive landing page, which is the stronger starting point for agency-level browsing and for searches focused on FBI records.
FBI Documents & FOIA Archive
Open the agency landing page for introduction text, topic links, and more FBI documents.
FBI

Explore This Archive Cluster

This document belongs to the Cults & Extremism archive hub and the more specific Charles Manson topic page. Use these hub pages when you want the broader collection context, linked subtopics, and more documents around the same archive thread.
agent federal bureau
Related subtopics
Jonestown
13 documents · 701 known pages
Subtopic
David Koresh
2 documents · 43 known pages
Subtopic