On This Day: Charles Manson and three members of his 'family' cult sentenced to death.

March 29 1971: On this day 42 years ago, infamous killer Charles Manson and three members of his hippy cult were sentenced to death for murdering seven people and one unborn child.

Manson, 36, had been found guilty in August 1969 of the killings, which took place at the beginning of that year.

The victims of Manson and his cult included actress Sharon Tate (wife of directoer Roman Polanski), who was eight-months pregnant.

As he was led from the courtroom, Manson told the judge and jury: "You don't have any authority over me. You're not nearly as good as me."

Manson was the leader of a cult known as 'the family' - which mostly recruited young women from the streets of San Francisco.

He brainwashed his recruits into believing they had to carry out a violent radical war as part of a prophecy he called 'Helter Skelter'.

As well as murdering Tate and her unborn child, Manson also ordered accomplices Susan Atkins, 22, Patricia Krenwinkel, 23 and Leslie Van Houten, 21, to murder Polish writer Voyteck Frykowski, coffee heiress Abigail Folger, Hollywood hairdresser Jay Sebring and Steven Parent, a teenage friend of Tate's caretaker.

Van Houten also killed supermarket owner Leno laBianca and his wife Rosemary.


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The three women, who, like Manson, had all shaved their heads, were dragged screaming from the court after sentencing.

They had admitted carrying out the killings while under the influence of LSD, but denied Manson's involvement.

Atkins shouted as she was led away: "It's gonna come down hard. Lock your doors. Protect your kids."

Manson was depicted in court as a satanic monster who controlled women as 'mindless robots'.

Manson's death penalty was eventually changed to a life sentence in 1972 after a court decision to temporarily eliminate the death penalty in California.

He remains incarcerated at Corcoran State Prison, California, aged 78.


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The death sentences of Atkins, Krenwinkel and Van Houten were also changed to life terms under similar rules.

Atkins was one week short of serving 40 years in jail when she died in 2009, and became the longest woman prisoner in the Californian penal system.

Krenwinkel, who took over that dubious honour after Atkins' death, is now aged 65, and has been denied parole 13 times.

Van Houten is also incarcerated at the same prison, and has been denied parole 16 times.