This estate battle is about as bizarre as it gets. There were conflicts about determining the proper jurisdiction for issues concerning the remains of Charles Manson, and the correct jurisdiction about his estate and related matters. People are coming out of the woodwork!
Judge David Cowan has ruled that LA Superior Court is where hearings on Charles Manson’s will and other related issues will take place. However, that’s not where any matters concerning his remains will be heard. Anyone who wants to file a petition for control of his remains is welcome to file a petition in Kings County, where he spent more than five decades in prison, or Kern County, where he died in 2017.
The Pasadena Star News reported in its report, “Battle for Charles Manson’s remains, estate will be split between counties,” that another hearing is scheduled in response to a petition filed by Bryan Walters, a deputy attorney in the county. The County wants to know who should take Manson’s remains.
“He was incarcerated in Kings County, not L.A. County,” Cowan said. “It should be Kings County or Kern County, not L.A. County for the venue.”
Because there are competing claims, government attorneys filed a petition for instructions. “If this was the simple case,” Walters told Judge Cowan, “we wouldn’t file a petition for instructions.”
Forty-one-year-old Jason Freeman is the son of late Charles Manson Jr. and the grandson of Manson and his former wife Rosalie Willis. He filed his petition with the probate court to have the hearing in Los Angeles, because Manson and his followers lived in Spahn Ranch in Chatsworth before he went to prison.
Freeman’s petition is competing with Manson’s longtime pen pal Michael Channels. Channels visited the mass murderer in prison in 2002 and claims that he has a will signed by Manson. The will, which Channels filed in Kern County, names him the executor of Manson’s estate and gives him control of his remains. However, when Channels attempted to gain custody of the body in Kern County, his petition was objected to by Freeman, who argues that Manson’s signature on the will was forged.
In another twist, Attorney Daniel Mortensen represented Michael Brunner, a purported son Manson had with Mary Brunner, a member of his “family.” Mortensen said his client wants to cremate Manson’s remains immediately.
Charles Manson orchestrated the brutal murders of nine people, including actress Sharon Tate, who was pregnant at the time that she was killed. He died at age 83.
Reference: Pasadena Star News (January 26, 2018) “Battle for Charles Manson’s remains, estate will be split between counties”