Paul Watkins (Manson Family) - Choice To Testify

Choice To Testify

In the second week of October 1969, right after Watkins left Golar Wash, the ranches were raided by law enforcement. Manson and others were arrested on vehicle theft and other charges that had no apparent connection with the murders. By the middle of November, Manson and Family members had become suspects in the Tate-LaBianca killings. The solving of the case was announced by LAPD at the beginning of December.

By Christmas time, Watkins had told the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office what he knew of the Family’s activities. He related a Manson admission, made to him shortly after the Family had moved to the desert, of participation in the killing of Spahn ranch hand Donald "Shorty" Shea, murdered not long after the Tate-LaBianca crimes. Even so, the tie between Watkins and the Family was unbroken. Watkins visited Manson at the Los Angeles County jail and moved in with Family members at a house in Van Nuys. He continued to visit Manson and acted as messenger between Manson and Manson’s female co-defendants. Moreover, he assumed quasi-leadership of the Family’s remnant.

Around the end of March 1970, Watkins split with Family members, in a blowup between a trio of Manson girls and him. This occurred at Spahn Ranch, to which the group had returned. The girls had learned of statements that Watkins had made to law officers and that Manson’s lawyer had obtained through an inevitable motion for discovery. Told he was a "Judas," Watkins walked out. Later that night, he was badly burned in a fire that broke out in a Volkswagen van in which he was sleeping. He was "unsure of the origin of the blaze," which could have been caused by a candle he’d been using to read or a marijuana cigarette he’d been smoking before he fell asleep. A Family member would later claim to have set the blaze.

In May, after he had healed, Watkins decided he would testify against Manson. His decision was occasioned by a threat delivered from Manson via Family members: "Charlie says when he gets out, you better not be around the desert."