Charles 'Tex' Watson
- Additional Crew
Charles "Tex" Watson was the tactical ringleader of some of the most
brutal murders in the annals of American history. Though ultimate
culpability for the murders was shifted by Los Angeles prosecutor
Vincent Bugliosi and the media on
Charles Manson, there is enough evidence
to believe that Watson was equally responsible legally and morally for
at least eight of the murders, all of which he served as one of the
executioners.
Bugliosi used his "Helter Skelter" theory to successfully convict
Manson and several of his female compatriots of seven murders: the
Tate-LaBianca killings that shocked America and the world (the victims
included heavily-pregnant movie star
Sharon Tate), two orgies of murder on
consecutive nights in August 1969 in which Watson played the lead role
in executing the killings, allegedly on the direct orders of Charles
Manson. Watson was tried separately from Manson and his female
followers, due to his lawyers fighting extradition from his native
Texas, to where he fled after the murder spree.
Watson and Manson subsequently were convicted of murdering Donald
"Shorty" Shea, a movie stunt-man and hand at the Spahn Ranch where
Manson, his cronies (including Tex) and his female groupies
congregated. The prosecution successfully portrayed Manson as
engineering the murder of the ranch hand as revenge on Shea, whom
Manson allegedly believed had snitched on him to the police after the
Tate-LaBianca murders. (Manson was convicted of a ninth murder,
pre-dating the Tate-LaBianca and Shea killings, the killing of music
teacher and small-time drug dealer Gary Hinman by Manson confederate
Bobby Beausoleil.)
All of the perpetrators of the Tate-LaBianca murders were condemned to
death upon conviction, but their sentences were commuted to life
imprisonment by the State of California after a 1972 Supreme Court
decision struck down extant death penalties in the various states.
Although Manson never did any of the actual killing, under the rules of
accomplice liability, he was deemed as responsible for the killings as
the actual perpetrators who caused the deaths of the nine people by
their own hands. Extremely colorful, Manson and his women overshadowed
Tex, who was not tried with them and thus escaped the media circus
Charlie dominated. Tex Watson used this shifting of culpability onto
Manson to portray himself as a victim, rather than as an equal
accomplice of the one-time car thief and convicted forgerer and pimp.
Nazis and other perpetrators of holocausts often have used the "I was
just following orders" defense.
In the years since the convictions, Watson has actively sought parole,
claiming he found religion and redemption while in prison. As long as
the memories of the merciless and brutal murders of Sharon Tate and her
unborn baby resonate in the American consciousness, it is unlikely he
ever will get out of prison.
brutal murders in the annals of American history. Though ultimate
culpability for the murders was shifted by Los Angeles prosecutor
Vincent Bugliosi and the media on
Charles Manson, there is enough evidence
to believe that Watson was equally responsible legally and morally for
at least eight of the murders, all of which he served as one of the
executioners.
Bugliosi used his "Helter Skelter" theory to successfully convict
Manson and several of his female compatriots of seven murders: the
Tate-LaBianca killings that shocked America and the world (the victims
included heavily-pregnant movie star
Sharon Tate), two orgies of murder on
consecutive nights in August 1969 in which Watson played the lead role
in executing the killings, allegedly on the direct orders of Charles
Manson. Watson was tried separately from Manson and his female
followers, due to his lawyers fighting extradition from his native
Texas, to where he fled after the murder spree.
Watson and Manson subsequently were convicted of murdering Donald
"Shorty" Shea, a movie stunt-man and hand at the Spahn Ranch where
Manson, his cronies (including Tex) and his female groupies
congregated. The prosecution successfully portrayed Manson as
engineering the murder of the ranch hand as revenge on Shea, whom
Manson allegedly believed had snitched on him to the police after the
Tate-LaBianca murders. (Manson was convicted of a ninth murder,
pre-dating the Tate-LaBianca and Shea killings, the killing of music
teacher and small-time drug dealer Gary Hinman by Manson confederate
Bobby Beausoleil.)
All of the perpetrators of the Tate-LaBianca murders were condemned to
death upon conviction, but their sentences were commuted to life
imprisonment by the State of California after a 1972 Supreme Court
decision struck down extant death penalties in the various states.
Although Manson never did any of the actual killing, under the rules of
accomplice liability, he was deemed as responsible for the killings as
the actual perpetrators who caused the deaths of the nine people by
their own hands. Extremely colorful, Manson and his women overshadowed
Tex, who was not tried with them and thus escaped the media circus
Charlie dominated. Tex Watson used this shifting of culpability onto
Manson to portray himself as a victim, rather than as an equal
accomplice of the one-time car thief and convicted forgerer and pimp.
Nazis and other perpetrators of holocausts often have used the "I was
just following orders" defense.
In the years since the convictions, Watson has actively sought parole,
claiming he found religion and redemption while in prison. As long as
the memories of the merciless and brutal murders of Sharon Tate and her
unborn baby resonate in the American consciousness, it is unlikely he
ever will get out of prison.