Why did the Charles Manson trial take so long?

Answer 1

The prosecution had an extremely difficult job. Manson did not kill the victims himself but ordered the murders and was in fact not present when the murders occured. With such a complex case there were many witnesses, many different individual pieces of evidence and defendants that caused disruption on a daily basis. The prosecution had to lay a foundation if they wanted the case to stand and be successful. Piece by piece, over weeks and then months, the facts were presented to the jury in a way they could understand what was to most people, incomprehensible.

Bugliosi and his team were blazing new trails with the Manson trial. The unique situation left little previous presidence to guide them. Just as it is difficult to prosecute without a body, it was equally difficult to prosecute when Manson, by all accounts was not present. He could not be tied to a murder weapon, the motivation was bizarre to say the least, and Manson himself made little to no sense with his ranting, rambling speaches.

In retrospect, the prosecution was succeessful against great odds. I have no doubt that had Bugliosi been on the OJ Simpson case the outcome would have been much different. And although Vince Bugliosi did not work alone (he had a great team at his disposal) it was his persistance and perserverance to see justice for the Tate-LaBianca victims, and his brilliant legal mind that made the prosecution of Manson and his murdering chums a possiblity. Kudos to Vincent Bugliosi for removing these viralent and dangerous people from society.