Malcolm Lucas from the University of Southern California in 1950 and a Bachelor of Laws from the USC Gould School of Law in 1953. From 1954 to 1967, he was in private practice in Long Beach, California. From 1967 to 1971, he was a judge of the Los Angeles County Superior Court. In February 1970, Lucas was the trial judge in the prosecution of Charles Manson for the murder of actress Sharon Tate, which continued through January 1971. In June 1970, Lucas had Manson removed from the courtroom due to his disruptive behavior. On July 8, 1971, President Richard Nixon nominated Lucas
Manson Family Charles Watson soon joined the group at Spahn's ranch. Watson, a small-town Texan who had quit college and moved to California, met Manson at Dennis Wilson's house. Watson gave Wilson a ride while Wilson was hitchhiking after his car was wrecked. Spahn nicknamed Watson "Tex" because of his pronounced Texan drawl. In the first days of November 1968, Manson established the Family at alternative headquarters in Death Valley's environs, where they occupied two unused or little-used ranches, Myers and Barker. The former, to which the group had initially headed, was owned by the grandmother of a new woman (Catherine Gillies)