Los Angeles Herald Examiner Charles Manson and his followers, who were charged with the 1969 murders of actress Sharon Tate and six others, "Herald Examiner" reporter William Farr reported in an article that Manson had planned to murder Elizabeth Taylor and Frank Sinatra. Farr was summoned by judge Charles Older to divulge his sources for the article. Farr refused. But at that time Farr had left the "Herald Examiner" to work for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office and later for the "Los Angeles Times". Farr cited the California reporters shield law that protected him from revealing his sources, but Older ruled that
Manson Family despite precautions taken by the court, Manson flashed the jury a "Los Angeles Times" front page whose headline was "Manson Guilty, Nixon Declares". This was a reference to a statement made the previous day when U.S. President Richard Nixon had decried what he saw as the media's glamorization of Manson. Voir dired by Judge Charles Older, the jurors contended that the headline had not influenced them. The next day, the female defendants stood up and said in unison that, in light of Nixon's remark, there was no point in going on with the trial. On October 5, Manson was denied