Good news but also consider that he’s never killed anybody which proves the government can throw you away for life for just acting crazy.
He drove murderers to the LaBianca home and ordered them murdered, he’s as guilty as the ones that brutally stabbed them to death.
He conceived the entire plan and gave the orders:
On the afternoon of August 8, 1969, Manson set his plan in motion. Calling together several Family members, Manson announced, “Now is the time for Helter Skelter.” That evening he told three female members of the Family—Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel, and Linda Kasabian—to get an additional change of clothes, a knife, and a driver’s license. Manson discussed details of his plan with a fourth Family member, Charles “Tex” Watson before all four piled into an old Ford. As they drove down the driveway of the ranch, Manson stuck his head in the car window and told them “to leave a sign.” He said, “You girls know what I mean, something witchy.” Although Tex understood his mission fully, the three women knew neither their destination nor that the night was destined for murder.
...Manson, meanwhile, expressed his displeasure with the attack at the Tate residence. Too messy, he thought. He decided to accompany the next Helter Skelter mission, which he scheduled for that very night. In addition to the four Family members from the previous night’s mission, Manson was joined by Clem Tufts and Leslie Van Houten. Manson ordered Kasabian to cruise the neighborhoods of Los Angeles, in search for potential victims, before settling on the home of Leno and and Rosemary LaBianca. Watson, Krenwinkel, and Van Houten were the killers chosen by Manson. As they left the car, Manson told them: “Don’t let them know you are going to kill them.”
http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/manson/mansonaccount.html