Beausoleil contended that both Brunner and Atkins merely went along with him to Hinman's because they "liked" Hinman and wanted to visit. In a 1981 interview with "Oui" magazine, he states that neither he nor Brunner nor Atkins were instructed by Manson to go to Hinman's and that he initially had no intention to kill him. This contradicted Beausoleil's own testimony at his first trial in 1969, when he claimed that Manson did in fact instruct him to kill Hinman. Beausoleil claimed "Mary Brunner was just scared to death. She just faded into the woodwork" during the murder, but that Atkins went back into the house after Beausoleil stabbed Hinman and placed a pillow over Hinman's face. He also contended that it was Atkins who wrote the words "Political Piggy" on Hinman's wall (at Beausoleil's instructions).