www.cielodrive.com/archive/marine-testifies-at-manson-trial-arrested-by-military-police/
August 16th, 1970
A young Marine brought into the Tate-LaBianca murder case by defense attorneys was arrested Friday on suspicion of being AWOL as he walked out of the courtroom. ...Marsh had been brought into the court house by Irving A. Kanarek, Manson’s lawyer, in an apparent attempt to discredit testimony by star prosecution witness Linda Kasabian. In a special hearing outside the presence of the trial jury, Marsh gave the court a deposition which the defense hopes to introduce into testimony at a later date. ...Marsh, meanwhile, testified he had seen the 22-year-old Mrs. Kasabian take the hallucinogenic drug Psilocybin at West Topanga Beach in Mid-July('69) a year ago. He also said he saw Mrs. Kasabian at a Topanga shopping center about a week later and she was “overly happy.” He testified that the second time he saw the young woman, whom he said had long blonde hair at the time, she was dancing.
“I’m sure you know what a jumping jack is…That’s what it looked like to me,” said Marsh.
Kanarek introduced the testimony because Mrs. Kasabian, during her three weeks on the witness stand, said she only took drugs once in July and that was at the Spahn movie ranch...
And although Marsh identified her(Kasabian), she said she did not know the young Marine.
Marsh also identified Miss Atkins as “Sadie.” The dark-haired young woman stood and gave him a snappy salute.
The young Marine said he had gone to the beach with a friend, whom he knew only as “Piccolo.” “Piccolo,” he said, gave the psilocybin to Mrs. Kasabian. He admitted he had been AWOL from the Marine Corps from March 1969 until the following October('69) and it was during this time that he saw the young woman. ...Marsh also said co-defendant Susan Atkins, 22, whom he knew only as “Sadie,” was with Mrs. Kasabian both times he saw her last summer.
www.cielodrive.com/archive/marine-says-linda-poured-drug/
August 15th, 1970
The 23-year-old Marsh, on emergency leave, claimed he was absent without leave from the Marine Corps and was working in the Topanga Canyon area when he became acquainted with Mrs. Kasabian and Susan Atkins...
On a list of people who testified at trial, Jon Hayden Marsh is described thusly:
app.box.com/s/b8e0nepbeer0f1rhzm7nsxu6hu2bqxbx
"March(sic), Jon Hyden(sic)
Lance Corp, Marine Corps and Friend of Atkins, Susan"
Various versions were given as to why he was dragged away in cuffs:
Military police arrest Jon Marsh outside Tate court hearing. He was a marine held for being AWOL
and having an improper identification card although this is probably the only connection he had
with the Tate/La Bianca murders.
How did the MPs know he was going to be there? Why is he wearing his uniform if he's AWOL?
law.justia.com/cases/california/court-of-appeal/3d/61/102.html 1977 appeal
Manson further complains that respondent interfered with the production of certain purported witnesses for the defense. Specifically, he claims the prosecuting attorneys were responsible for the failure of John Haden Marsh ... to appear as witnesses for appellants. With respect to Marsh, Manson's attorney advised the court that the witness was a United States Marine and that Los Angeles law enforcement agencies caused him to be harassed by the shore patrol. The insinuation of the charge is that this was done to deter him from testifying. We are not told the nature of Marsh's potential testimony.
Los Angeles Free Press Manson gossip column by Ed Sanders Aug 21, 1970
"You all recall the appearance in court last week of Lance Corporal Marsh, a marine on the way to Vietnam who came to testify that he had last seen Mrs. Kasabian scarf up some psilo-cyban at Topanga Beach last July('69). The issue was that Linda claimed to have taken only one dope voyage while living at the Spahn Ranch. This seemed to call into doubt her testimony on this point. After his testimony was taken, she resumed the witness stand and ridiculed the quality of the alleged psilo-cyban, saying that it was weak and ineffectual.* (Marsh was arrested outside the courtroom after testifying by the Shore Patrol. Supposedly he was on emergency leave and his papers allowed him to be in San Francisco, but not Los Angeles.)"
*So did Kasabian admit to using the drug, thus impeaching her own testimony that she only took one 'trip?'
It gets weirder. A 'John Hayden Marsh,' address at the 29 Palms Marine Corps base, is listed on Lt. Deemer's list with the comment "lived with HINMAN, Gary," though it doesn't say when(presumably that would have been in the summer of '69 when Marsh was AWOL). Was Hinman the source of the Psilocybin given to Linda Kasabian as described above? A 'piccolo' is a wind instrument that is similar to a flute. We know Hinman was a musician. Did he play or own a flute/piccolo? From the Hinman Homicide Report:
http://www.cielodrive.com/gary-hinman-homicide-report-08-09-69.php
"Beneath the table was found the checkbook of V/Hinman and a brown wooden musical instrument, flut(e)-like in appearance..."
So did Bugs get the LAPD to make sure this witness didn't testify? But Marsh had already testified when they grabbed him. Possibly they didn't want Marsh talking to reporters and bringing up the Hinman connection. IF Marsh was interviewed by the Hinman Homicide detectives, he may have mentioned those grungy friends of Gary as possible suspects, which would have have put the LASO in the awkward position of having to explain why they didn't follow up on this investigative lead, and thus prevent TLB from happening.
A man claiming to have been a friend of Hinman posted this on his website:
(from January 30, 2014)
Excerpt:
"Gary informed me... This (Manson)gang had been extorting things – food, cars, money – from his isolated neighborhood in the name of “peace and love”. These freeloading “flower children” were especially interested in his VW minibus, and had somehow concluded that he “owed” it to them. That’s what the heated discussion was all about. ....
"Gary informed me... This (Manson)gang had been extorting things – food, cars, money – from his isolated neighborhood in the name of “peace and love”. These freeloading “flower children” were especially interested in his VW minibus, and had somehow concluded that he “owed” it to them. That’s what the heated discussion was all about. ....
"Gary waged a campaign
in the neighborhood to end the commune’s constant panhandling, going
through garbage cans, expecting handouts and outright gifts of things
like cars and clothes, and otherwise demanding that the community accept
their “everything belongs to everyone” attitude. According to Gary,
they were quite criminal in their behavior, and he was trying to get people to stop supporting them with extorted guilty gifts. ...
"Gary and his neighbor were discussing the ongoing problem of the commune at the Spahn ranch, and the neighbor let me know that Charlie’s “family” had threatened to burn Gary’s house down and destroy him as part of their apocalyptic fantasy."
This of course completely overturns both the "bad mescaline" and the "inheritance" theories of Hinman's death. Did Marsh tell the investigating officers much the same thing regarding the Family's relations with Hinman?
Other questions:
--Why didn't Kanarek try to enter Marsh's deposition to the jury? We are told he was desperate to find hole's in Kasabian's testimony, but he didn't use this?
--How did Kanarek get the name of 'Marsh' to begin with?
--Why, out of all the other witness testimony, did this witness take the stand with the jury absent?
--As a friend of Atkins, and someone who lived with Gary Hinman, what else did Marsh know about Gary's history with the Family that caused him to become a target?
