Charles “Tex” Watson: Manson Family member tapes handed over to LAPD
Charles Manson poses for a photo on March 18, 2009 at Corcoran State Prison, California, where he is serving a life sentence for conspiring to murder seven people during the “Manson family” killings in 1969.
A judge on Tuesday ordered audiotapes of conversations between Charles "Tex" Watson, 66, and his attorney be handed over to the LAPD as they could help solve Manson Family murders.
Police will be able to review eight hours of discussions between Watson and his lawyer, Bill Boyd, which were made more than 40 years ago, according to Reuters. The recordings were subject to a case in federal bankruptcy court in Texas involving Boyd's then-law firm, which also represented Watson during his 1969 murder trial for crimes carried out under the direction of cult leader Charles Manson. Detectives gained access to the recordings when Watson waived attorney-client privilege so he could sell them to pay legal fees. Boyd died in 2009.
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Police want to hear the tapes to see if Watson described any unsolved murders to his attorney, reported the Associated Press. They will be handed over when the court order is final in 14 days.
"We're hoping 14 days from now we can send our guys there to pick them up," LAPD spokesman Andrew Smith said to the AP.
Manson recruited a group of runaways and outcasts and, in the summer of 1969, directed his mostly young, female followers to murder seven people in what was said to be an attempt to incite a race war, according to Reuters. Among the victims was actress Sharon Tate, the pregnant wife of filmmaker Roman Polanski, who was stabbed 16 times by members of the Manson Family cult.