Ronald Hughes
| Ronald Hughes | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Ronald W. Hughes March 16, 1935 |
| Died |
c. November 1970 (aged 35) Ventura County, California, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Undetermined/Unknown |
| Resting place | Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Attorney |
Ronald W. Hughes (March 16, 1935 – c. November 1970) was an American attorney who represented Manson family member Leslie Van Houten.
Hughes disappeared while on a camping trip during a ten-day recess from the Tate-LaBianca murder trial in November 1970. His body was found in March 1971, but his cause of death could not be determined. At least one Manson family member has claimed that Hughes was murdered by the family in an act of retaliation. No one has been charged in connection with his death.
Hughes was among the first lawyers to meet with Charles Manson in December 1969. Initially, he signed on as the attorney for Manson, but was replaced by Irving Kanarek two weeks before the start of the trial.
He eventually represented Leslie Van Houten in the Tate–LaBianca murder trial. Hughes failed the bar exam three times before passing and had never tried a case. Hughes, a onetime conservative, was called "the hippie lawyer" due to his intimate knowledge of the hippie subculture. That knowledge occasionally served his client well. He was able to raise questions about Linda Kasabian's credibility by asking her about hallucinogenic drugs, her belief in ESP, her thoughts that she might be a witch, and her experiencing "vibrations" from Manson.
As attorney for defendant Van Houten, Hughes tried to separate the interests of his client from those of Charles Manson, a move that angered Manson and may have cost Hughes his life. He hoped to show that Van Houten was not acting independently, but was completely controlled in her actions by Manson. This strategy contradicted Manson's plan to allow fellow family members to implicate themselves in the crimes, clearing him of all involvement.
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