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Kanarek had also represented Jimmy Smith, the "Onion Field" killer, in an earlier trial. He spent twelve and a half months trying to pick a jury and an additonal several on pre-trial motions. Smith finally fired his attorney in disgust. A year and a half after Kanarek had taken the case the trial hadn't even started or a single witness called. In his summation, Bugliosi called Kanarek "the Toscanini of Tedium."
Kanarek had also represented Jimmy Smith, the "Onion Field" killer, in an earlier trial. He spent twelve and a half months trying to pick a jury and an additonal several on pre-trial motions. Smith finally fired his attorney in disgust. A year and a half after Kanarek had taken the case the trial hadn't even started or a single witness called. In his summation, Bugliosi called Kanarek "the Toscanini of Tedium."

Kanarek was ordered inactive by the California State Bar in 1990.
Kanarek was admitted to the California Bar in 1957. He resigned from the bar in 1990 with disciplinary charges pending. He attended the University of Washington as an undergraduate and Loyola University, Los Angeles, School of Law.


Little known outside of the aerospace business, Irving Kanarek's first career was as an aerospace engineer working for North American Aviation, where he invented Red Fuming Nitric Acid for the Army's Nike rocket program. He was eventually fired from North American after inadvertently leaving a briefcase full of secret documents at a bar in Los Angeles. It was this firing that prompted him to study law and become an attorney. This step, designed to regain his job in aerospace, was ultimately unsuccessful.
Little known outside of the aerospace business, Irving Kanarek's first career was as an aerospace engineer working for North American Aviation, where he invented Red Fuming Nitric Acid for the Army's Nike rocket program. He was eventually fired from North American after inadvertently leaving a briefcase full of secret documents at a bar in Los Angeles. It was this firing that prompted him to study law and become an attorney. This step, designed to regain his job in aerospace, was ultimately unsuccessful.

Revision as of 03:17, 3 August 2006

Irving Kanarek is best known for being Charles Manson's lawyer in the Tate-LaBianca Murder Trial.

Kanarek was known for trying to confuse juries and the prosecuting lawyers with his obstructionist ways. He objected 9 times in the opening statements, despite continuous censure by Judge Charles Older, including calling Linda Kasabian insane. By the third day of the trial, he had objected more than 200 times. He was sent to jail twice for being in contempt of court by Judge Older.

Prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi wrote in Helter Skelter (book) that Kanarek was something of a legend in Los Angeles courts because of his dilatory, obstructionist tactics. There was a story that he once objected to a witness saying his own name claiming it was hearsay because he heard it first from his mother.

Kanarek had also represented Jimmy Smith, the "Onion Field" killer, in an earlier trial. He spent twelve and a half months trying to pick a jury and an additonal several on pre-trial motions. Smith finally fired his attorney in disgust. A year and a half after Kanarek had taken the case the trial hadn't even started or a single witness called. In his summation, Bugliosi called Kanarek "the Toscanini of Tedium."

Kanarek was admitted to the California Bar in 1957. He resigned from the bar in 1990 with disciplinary charges pending. He attended the University of Washington as an undergraduate and Loyola University, Los Angeles, School of Law.

Little known outside of the aerospace business, Irving Kanarek's first career was as an aerospace engineer working for North American Aviation, where he invented Red Fuming Nitric Acid for the Army's Nike rocket program. He was eventually fired from North American after inadvertently leaving a briefcase full of secret documents at a bar in Los Angeles. It was this firing that prompted him to study law and become an attorney. This step, designed to regain his job in aerospace, was ultimately unsuccessful.