20 November 2017

Helter Skelter Book Club: Week 8





CHARLES MANSON IS DEAD. This book club may have actually killed him. How frigging timely are we guys???

This section was interesting to me because we get to see a little bit of the juror's experience. Could you even imagine working as a juror for six months in complete isolation?? I love the joke where Bugulosi says they have sentenced criminals to shorter durations.

I really don't think I could have lasted as a juror. It would be so cool to be apart of such a historic trial, but imagine being away from your friends and family for that long? Or also about being stuffed into a hotel room with a bunch of strangers from all over the country with the only thing in common being Charles Manson.

If I was on this jury I can assure you that I would also end up on trial for murder... that defense lawyer Kanarek enrages me ... how his whole system is to just prolong the trial / confuse jurors. Even just reading about him at the trial pisses me off.

1 comment:

  1. I've been sick the past few days. Sorry for the delay in getting a reply up.

    I'm with you though, Meg. I would feel so vulnerable if I were a juror. The isolation factor, particularly with this case, is nothing short of maddening. I understand why it's necessary (see: all of the hype surrounding OJ and the influence of the media hence wanting to protect jurors from that bludgeoning bias). Given the testimonies that they had to hear during the trial, and to see Charles Manson staring back at them, I can't imagine what that must have been like emotionally on jurors. Not to mention, all of the external shit that was happening (i.e. the Family carving X's into their foreheads for solidarity, or shaving their heads). It must've been nothing short of terrifying to witness all of this and have no one outside of unfamiliar jurors to turn to. Only, you're not allowed to speak to other jurors about the case outside of the court room, so it would no doubt really fuck you up mentally.

    I do like that they explain who each juror was and what they did for a living. It gives you an idea of the perspectives each individual might take when hearing testimony. Again, as someone with a criminology background, I really appreciated that intel!


    Also... I got crazy chills when Bugliosi spoke about how Charles Manson would stare at the judge for hours during jury selection, and how he once stared at Bugliosi, and Bugliosi stared right back, which led to Manson's hands to begin trembling. I can't imagine how intense that must've been, and how big the balls on Bugliosi must be.

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