Hinman Slayer Will Act as Own Attorney in Seeking New Trial
Wednesday, May 27th, 1970
LOS ANGELES, May 27 – Convicted murderer Robert K. Beausoleil was granted a request Tuesday to act as his own attorney after a statement was read to the court in which the prosecution’s star witness repudiated her testimony as “not true.”
Superior Judge William B. Keene continued arguments for a new trial and formal sentencing to June 9 at which time he instructed Beausoleil, 22, to bring into court evidence supporting his motion for a new trial.
The postponement was granted after a statement was read to Judge Keene allegedly signed by Mary Brunner, 26, whose damaging testimony was a major factor in Beausoleil’s first-degree murder conviction for the torture slaying of musician Gary Hinman. The jury recommended the death penalty.
Miss Brunner testified that she accompanied Beausoleil to Hinman’s Malibu home last July and that she was present when Beausoleil killed the musician.
Beausoleil and Miss Brunner were then members of Charles Manson’s hippie family, living at the Spahn Movie Ranch in Chatsworth.
“Everything I testified to at the Robert Beausoleil trial, and the grand jury, was not true and did not happen as so testified,” Miss Brunner said in a statement read to the court by Dep. Public Defender Leon M. Salter. The statement reportedly was signed May 21 by Miss Brunner and a Wisconsin notary public.
Miss Brunner, who testified for the prosecution after being promised “complete immunity” if she cooperated with the district attorney’s office in all court actions arising from the Hinman slaying, presently is living in Wisconsin with her young son, reportedly fathered by Manson.
The young woman said the district attorney “threatened to indict me for murder if I refused to (testify)” and that she was afraid they would “put me in jail for a long time.”
“I have been coerced, lied to, and tricked into making statements,” Miss Brunner continued.
“The reason I have done so is because I was scared into believing . . . that I would lose my baby.
“Had the police and district attorney left me alone I would not have testified. I declare under the penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct,” she concluded.
Judge Keene granted Beausoleil’s motion to act as his own attorney after he told the court that Salter was unable to gather evidence on his behalf because “he is a member of the establishment.”
“We weren’t able to obtain certain witnesses,” Beausoleil told the court, “because they wouldn’t let themselves be influenced by a member of the establishment.”
During the trial, Beausoleil charged that it was Manson, not he, who actually killed Hinman. By acting as his own attorney, Beausoleil will be allowed to interview members of the Manson family.
He said previous attempts by Salter to contact family members all failed. “They will not communicate with him,” Beausoleil told the court. He said he had a high regard for Salter’s abilities as an attorney.
In releasing Salter as Beausoleil’s attorney, Judge Keene told the defendant, “I am permitting you to act as your own attorney for the limited purpose of supplying any new evidence to this court in support of a new trial.”
By DOUG SHUIT
Wow. Mary Brunner was a weak, low-self-esteem-having coward. As soon as her friends and Manson instructed her to change her testimony, she went ahead and did it without question. She could’ve cared less for poor Gary, who had helped her many times and extended his small home as shelter for her and the rest of those flea bags! Shame on Mary Brunner! I think she should’ve been convicted for murder as well. She was there. She could’ve stopped it, or let Gary leave when they were watching him, and easily could’ve called the police, then she helped smother the poor man as he lay gasping for breath of air. She obviously still believes in the whole Manson thing too, because her son now takes every opportunity to say in interviews that the Manson Family were wronged and the prosecutor made up HS. It is the exact same t
BS Lynette says as well as Sandra Good. It’s funny. He waited until his grandparents passed to start mouthing off about how good Charlie was. He doesn’t take into account the grief Manson caused his grandparents or the fact that Manson used to beat the snot out of his own mother. Oh no, it’s all romantized in his mind. Where did he get this from? His mother, that’s who.