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
Charles Manson a popular urban legend, Manson auditioned unsuccessfully for the Monkees in late 1965; this is refuted by the fact that Manson was still incarcerated at McNeil Island at that time. In June 1966, Manson was sent for the second time to Terminal Island in preparation for early release. By the time of his release day on March 21, 1967, he had spent more than half of his 32 years in prisons and other institutions. This was mainly because he had broken federal laws. Federal sentences were, and remain, much more severe than state sentences for many of the same offenses.