Irving Kanarek
Irving Kanarek (born c. 1930) is best known for serving as Charles Manson's defense lawyer in the Tate- LaBianca Murder Trial.
Obstructioninst tactics
According to Tate-LaBianca prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi, Kanarek was something of a legend in Los Angeles courts for his dilatory, obstructionist tactics. In his book Helter Skelter, Bugliosi claimed that Kanarek once objected to a witness saying his own name, claiming it was hearsay because he heard it first from his mother.
In the Tate-LaBianca trial, Kanarek objected 9 times during opening statements, despite continuous censure by Judge Charles Older. During a later objection, he called witness Linda Kasabian insane, and by the third day of the trial, he had objected more than 200 times. He was sent to jail twice by Judge Older during the trial for being in contempt of court. In his summation, Bugliosi dubbed Kanarek "the Toscanini of Tedium."
Kanarek 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 months on pre-trial motions. A year and a half after Kanarek had taken the case, the trial hadn't even started nor had a single witness been called. Smith finally fired Kanarek in disgust.
Careers
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 Project Nike. He was eventually fired from North American after he left 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. Although Kanarek had hoped to regain his job in aerospace, he was ultimately unsuccessful. [citation needed]
Kanarek attended the University of Washington as an undergraduate and attended Loyola University, Los Angeles, School of Law. He was admitted to the California Bar in 1957.
In November 1989, Kanarek was admitted to the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center for psychiatric treatment. While there, a judge found in favor of two of his former clients who had sued him for breach of contract, fraud, and malpractice. He resigned from the bar in 1990 with disciplinary charges pending.