Charles Manson in 2011. Photo via Wikimedia Commons
Former Charles Manson follower Bruce Davis — who was convicted of the murders of two men in the summer of 1969 — has again been found suitable for parole.
Davis, 74, has previously been found suitable for parole four times, but has not been released from prison because Gov. Jerry Brown rejected his parole bid three times — most recently last year — and then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger rejected parole for him in 2010.
The latest decision is subject to a 120-day review period by the Board of Parole Hearings’ staff.
If the decision is finalized at the end of that period, the governor may conduct a review, and will have 30 days to reverse or uphold the decision, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Davis was convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy for the July 25, 1969, stabbing death of musician Gary Hinman in his Topanga Canyon home and the killing of Donald “Shorty” Shea, who was last seen alive on Aug. 27, 1969.
Davis was not involved with other followers of Manson in the Aug. 9, 1969, murders of pregnant actress Sharon Tate and four others in a rented Benedict Canyon home, or the stabbing deaths of grocery store owner Leno La Bianca and his wife, Rosemary, a day later in their Los Feliz home.
Davis is being held at the California Men’s Colony in San Luis Obispo.
Steve Grogan, who was convicted in Shea’s murder and helped lead authorities to the site where the victim was buried, was the first former Manson follower to be paroled from prison in 1985.
Manson and most of his co-defendants have repeatedly been denied parole – – with Brown rejecting parole for Leslie Van Houten last July.
Onetime Manson Family member Susan Atkins died in September 2009, about three weeks after a state parole board panel rejected her plea for a “compassionate release” from prison because of brain cancer.
–City News Service
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