Charles Manson, an American would-be musician with a small group of followers, heard the album in California, and thought the songs "Blackbird" and "Helter Skelter" were calls for a racial war, between African-American (black) and Caucasian (white) people. His beliefs resulted in a series of murders in Los Angeles during 1969, as he ordered members of his "Manson Family" to try to spark such a war, by committing hate crimes. Later during his trial, his lawyers tried to get John Lennon (staying in California at the time) or George Harrison to testify, but this never happened. Manson and four Family members were convicted of multiple murder. They were sentenced to be executed, but when the US Supreme Court overturned the death penalty, their sentences were changed to life imprisonment. None have ever been paroled.