"The man at the table has lived the last year in a Garden Grove motel. Before that, it was four years in a Costa Mesa motel. Now 28 years since the Manson trial, Irving Kanarek is 78 years old...He's had bouts with mental illness and cancer, but says he feels fine. He lives on Social Security and says he can't afford a car.
Amid the carnival-like atmosphere of the Manson trial, Kanarek was much more than a bit player. Although Bugliosi referred to Kanarek in his summation as "the Toscanini of tedium"....
He hasn't practiced since November of 1989 when, in his own words, "I flipped out." Beset by personal problems, Kanarek was admitted to the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center for psychiatric treatment.
He's uncertain how long he stayed there and says he then spent another couple years after his release in a "rest home." But by the time he regained his mental faculties, he says, he had lost his law practice and the State Bar paid out three claims against him from former clients totaling $40,500.
And he remains faithful to his most famous client: "Manson was a personable guy. He had nothing to do with those murders. The people who testified against him are all criminals"."
