Bankruptcy Judge Says LAPD Gets Tapes Convicted Manson Family Killer Gave to Now-Deceased Attorney
A convicted member of the notorious Charles Manson “family” responsible for a spree of 1969 killings in California including the slaying of pregnant actress Sharon Tate says, through his current lawyers, that he didn’t waive attorney-client privilege decades ago.
That’s when Charles “Tex” Watson made audiotapes of conversations with his then-lawyer, Bill Boyd, available to the author of a book about his life for a $49,000 payment, according to the Associated Press and Reuters.
But the 2009 death of Boyd and the involvement of his former Texas law firm in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy case has put the question in front of a federal bankruptcy court judge in Texas. Asked by a trustee in the case to authorize a plan to provide eight hours of tapes in which Watson talks with Boyd to the Los Angeles Police Department, the judge gave the proposal a green light on Tuesday.
The LAPD, which should get the tapes in about two weeks, reportedly wants to see whether the tapes shed any light on additional unsolved slayings. While there are no specific unsolved cases the department has in mind, “when our detectives learned of those recordings, they chose to seek them out,” Cmdr. Andrew Smith explains to the L.A. Now (sub. req.) blog of the Los Angeles Times. “We think it’s good police work to continue to pay attention to these cases.”
Related coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Admittedly Very Dangerous, Charles Manson, Architect of ‘Helter Skelter’ Slayings, is Denied Parole”
