Charles "Tex" Watson

Charles "Tex" Watson
Tex Watson during the Tate-La Bianca trial
Born	December 2, 1945 (1945-12-02) (age 65) Dallas, Texas
Penalty	Death, reduced by abolition of death penalty to seven-years-to-life in prison.
Spouse	Kristin Watson (Divorced 2003)

Charles Denton Watson is a convicted American murderer and former member of the Manson Family from Copeville, Texas. In 1971, he was convicted of the murders of Sharon Tate, Steven Parent, Abigail Folger, Wojciech Frykowski and Jay Sebring, which took place in the early hours of August 9, 1969, in the Tate residence in Benedict Canyon, and the murders of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca at the LaBianca residence in Los Feliz the following night.^[1]

In June 1975, Watson converted to Christianity; he co-authored an autobiography entitled Will You Die For Me? in 1978.

Early life

Charles grew up in Copeville, Texas, working summers at an onion packing plant in Farmersville to pay for college. He attended college for three years at North Texas University in Denton, Texas, and joined the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity. It was at this point that Charles says he lost interest in college^{[citation needed]}. During his junior year in college, he worked as a baggage handler for Braniff International Airways, which afforded him travel opportunities. After visiting a college friend who had moved to California, he decided to move there. He briefly attended college, but soon dropped out and opened his own wig shop called Love Locs, which quickly failed. One night, Charles says he picked up Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys who was hitchhiking, and was invited back to Wilson's home on Sunset, where he met Charles Manson.^[2]

1969 Murders

On August 8, 1969, Manson announced, "now is the time for Helter Skelter", a term taken from a Beatles song that Manson believed (or convinced his associates that he believed) meant a revolution prophesied in the Book of Revelation via a race war between blacks and whites. That along with the desire to strike back at the society that had jailed several Family members and possibly create copy-cat crimes that would exonerate Family associate Bobby Beausoleil (arrested in connection with the murder of Gary Hinman), seemed to propel the events of the next two nights. In Susan Atkins's grand jury testimony, she stated that on the night of August 8, 1969, while in the car, Watson told the group they were going to a home to get money from the people who lived there and to kill them.^{[3][not in citation given]}

Tate murders

Susan Atkins held the eight and a half months pregnant Sharon Tate while Watson stabbed her to death, with Atkins also participating.^{[1][page needed]} Manson put Watson in charge of the accomplices in the murders, Linda Kasabian, Susan Atkins, and Patricia Krenwinkel. He instructed Watson to go to 10050 Cielo Drive on the evening of August 8, 1969, and kill everyone inside the home. Manson ordered the girls to write on the walls. "Remember to leave a sign," he told the girls, "something witchy." Watson also was responsible for carrying along and using the bolt cutters, the rope and the .22 caliber Buntline pistol that were used in the murders.^[4] Watson alone shot Steven Parent, Jay Sebring and Voytek Frykowski, as well as stabbing the latter two over four dozen times.

LaBianca murders

On the night of August 10, 1969, Manson drove Van Houten, Watson, Krenwinkel, Atkins, Steve Grogan, and Linda Kasabian to an address in Los Feliz, the home of Rosemary and Leno LaBianca. Manson entered the house with Watson and handed him leather ties for tying up Leno's hands. Manson left the house, instructing Krenwinkel and Van Houten to go inside and join Watson, who asked the girls if Manson said to kill them. They responded by saying, "Yes."

Krenwinkel and Van Houten found Rosemary LaBianca in a bedroom, to which she had retired while her husband had fallen asleep while reading in the living room. Van Houten put a pillowcase over Rosemary LaBianca's head, and the two women tied the electrical cord from a lamp around her neck. In the living room, Watson began stabbing Leno. Van Houten then held LaBianca down while Krenwinkel tried to stab her in the chest, but the blade bent on LaBianca's collar bone. Van Houten called for assistance from Watson, who entered the bedroom and took charge. Watson then stabbed Rosemary LaBianca several times, found Van Houten, handed her the knife, and told her to "do something".^[5] Van Houten proceeded to stab Rosemary 16 times in the lower torso. The autopsy showed that several of the wounds had been inflicted post-mortem.

Conviction

On October 2, 1969, Watson fled the ranch and headed back to his home state of Texas. On November 30, 1969, Watson was arrested in Texas for the Tate-LaBianca murders. He and his lawyers fought the extradition back to California for nine months. Upon returning to California, Watson began regressing to a catatonic state. He stopped talking and eating, dropping 55 pounds. He was admitted to Atascadero State Hospital for a 90-day observation period to determine if he was able to stand trial. He stayed there until February 1971, when he was deemed able to stand trial.^[6]

On October 12, 1971, Watson was convicted of seven counts of first degree murder and one count conspiracy to commit murder.

On October 21, 1971, Watson was sentenced to death. He escaped execution when the California Supreme Court's People v. Anderson decision resulted in the invalidation of all death sentences imposed in California prior to 1972.^[7] Watson was found guilty of the murders of seven persons, and his seven counts were run concurrent. His minimum eligible parole date was November 26, 1976, but he has not ever been found suitable. Having been denied parole 14 times, Watson remains incarcerated in Mule Creek State Prison in Ione, California. His last hearing was in November 2011. He received a maximum five-year denial. His next scheduled parole hearing is in November 2016.^[8]

Later years

Will You Die For Me?, Watson's autobiography, as told to "Chaplain Ray" (Ray Hoekstra), was published in 1978.^[9] In 1979, he married Kristin Joan Svege. Through conjugal visits they were able to have four children, but those visits for life prisoners were banned in October 1996. After 24 years of marriage, Kristin divorced Charles after meeting another man in 2003.^[10] Kristin and Charles remain friends as parents of their children.

Charles became a born-again Christian in 1975 and through non-incarcerated friends operates aboundinglove.org. He has written about his role in the murders, stating that he believes that God has forgiven him.^[11] He graduated from California Coast University in 2009, with a B.S. in Business Management.^{[citation needed]}

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Bugliosi, Vincent with Gentry, Curt. Helter Skelter — The True Story of the Manson Murders 25th Anniversary Edition, W.W. Norton & Company, 1994. ISBN 0-393-08700-X. Pages 100–4, 313.
2. ^ Watson, Charles as told to Ray Hoekstra. Will You Die for Me? Cross Roads Publications, 1978.
3. ^ "Charles Watson Testimony", Charlie Manson.com.
4. ^ Bugliosi 1994, pages 210–13.
5. ^ "CNN Larry King Weekend, Encore Presentation: Interview With Leslie Van Houten". CNN. 2002-06-29. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0206/29/lklw.00.html. Retrieved 2009-01-26. 
6. ^ Bugliosi 1994, pages514-15 .
7. ^ Helter Skelter — The True Story of the Manson Murders 25th Anniversary Edition pages 661–2, Epilogue.
8. ^ Broughton, Ashley. "Aging Manson 'Family' members long for freedom." CNN. March 30, 2009.
9. ^ "Library of Congress catalog record on Will you die for me?". http://lccn.loc.gov/77018539. 
10. ^ Manson Family Timeline
11. ^ Manson's Right hand Man Speaks Out!

External links

• Abounding Love Ministries
• Manson defendants profiles
• Manson murders entry, crimelibrary.com

Persondata
Name	Watson, Charles Denton
Alternative names	Watson, Tex
Short description	Manson family member, convicted murderer
Date of birth	December 2, 1945
Place of birth	Dallas, Texas
Date of death
Place of death