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Why?....let him live out the last few years of his miserable life...He has already done some rotting in hell. Just don't understand why this is even an issue. The parole board realizes that the guys over...and see no purpose in his release...It's not like he is Nelson Mandela or something? Here is the picture....end of life...old..and he wants to snatch a bit of freedom before he goes? Application denied. Let him continue with his good work in prison.
Obviously you don't read other posts before you comment. The Parole Board APPROVED RELEASE. The governor OVERRULED their decision and said, no, he could not be released. Read more before you type; then you will understand more clearly what is being discussed.
Saying he still poses a threat to society, Gov. Jerry Brown on Friday blocked parole for Manson family member Bruce Davis.
“Until Davis can acknowledge and explain why he actively championed the Family’s interests, and shed more light on the nature of his involvement, I am not prepared to release him,” the governor wrote in his decision.
Davis, 26 at the time of the killings, was convicted and imprisoned in 1972 for his role in the murders of two men, ranch hand Donald “Shorty” Shea, who also worked as a Hollywood stuntman, and aspiring musician Gary Hinman.
Details of Shea’s killing have always remained murky, muddied more by Davis’ recent account that the ranch hand was taken to a different location and killed not the night that prosecutors claimed, but the following morning. Another Manson family member, Steve “Clem” Grogan, allegedly cut off Shea’s head. Grogan, the only Manson family member convicted of murder to be set free, won parole in 1985 by leading law enforcement to Shea’s body. California corrections officials said he has since had no criminal offenses in this state.
Like Grogan, Davis, now 70, was not implicated in the 1969 murders of actress Sharon Tate and four others in a Benedict Canyon home, nor of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca. Hinman was held captive for days, tortured and then killed in July 1969 as part of an extortion plot at the outset of the infamous Manson family murder spree.
Shea’s August 1969 stabbing and beheading death took place after, in August or September 1969, because Manson believed he was a police informant.
[Updated 12:55 p.m., March 1: Davis’ attorney, Michael Beckman, said he was “disappointed and saddened by the governor's horrible decision to play politics yet again with Bruce Davis' life.” Beckman said the governor’s reasons for denying parole would be “laughable if the consequences for my client weren't so devastating."]
I believe the lawyer's comment is 100% correct.
The other guy involved in the murder, who actually decapitated someone, was paroled and has done nothing wrong since.
The parole board has recommended Davis for parole twice now.
Davis has earned a doctorate while in prison.
Davis is now a senior citizen.
But the governor says he's a danger to society because he hasn't adequately explained why he championed the Manson Family's interests 40 years ago?
I think we can accurately translate this as Governor Brown is afraid of seeing media headlines that he paroled a Manson Family member and values publicity more than justice or another man's rights.
I think Brown is insane.
What does he want from this man? Finally the parole board grants him leave, and Brown steps in to deny it, why? What's his motivation?
I think this is cruel. This man has rehabilitated himself and has served his time. He is 70 yrs old now.
Is there no compassion or forgiveness in this country anymore? I hope Brown doesn't call himself a Christian.
I thought they should have paroled Atkins also.
The other guy involved in the murder, who actually decapitated someone, was paroled and has done nothing wrong since.
The parole board has recommended Davis for parole twice now.
Davis has earned a doctorate while in prison.
Davis is now a senior citizen.
But the governor says he's a danger to society because he hasn't adequately explained why he championed the Manson Family's interests 40 years ago?
I think we can accurately translate this as Governor Brown is afraid of seeing media headlines that he paroled a Manson Family member and values publicity more than justice or another man's rights.
It's about POLITICS, period. When you are involved in any way with such a violent group of people and involved in such horrific crimes, you no longer have the same rights as people who have not behaved in such a way. This man is going to spend the rest of his life in prison. MANSON is the key word. I would also suggest that he in fact would/will be happier in prison for the rest of his life than he would be if released. He has adapted and is totally institutionalized after 40 years. At his age, adapting to being "free" would be enormously difficult if not impossible.
If Manson doesn't like his jail cell, he's free to liberate himself by chewing through his wrists or finding some other creative way to arrange his meeting with God.
Watson tried to starve himself, lost 55lbs. then they force fed him and gave him the death penalty - which got overturned.
Why?....let him live out the last few years of his miserable life...He has already done some rotting in hell. Just don't understand why this is even an issue. The parole board realizes that the guys over...and see no purpose in his release...It's not like he is Nelson Mandela or something? Here is the picture....end of life...old..and he wants to snatch a bit of freedom before he goes? Application denied. Let him continue with his good work in prison.
Why bother having a parole board, if the governor can just override it? The board did not make this decision lightly. Davis had very little to do with the crimes. If he was a female, he could claim coercion and fear kept him from stopping the murder of the stunt man. I don't see any evidence he did anything to Hinman. I think he just got caught up in the frenzy to make anybody involved with Manson pay the price.
I suppose I'm looking through a narrow perspective; I live in Florida, and our parole boards as well as governors do NOT grant parole lightly or that often. Just as in Texas. We don't have a lot of fundamentalist Christian governors here in Florida. Our current governor is a Tea Party extremist and signs death warrants in order to improve his popularity numbers. He's done that in two cycles now. Unfortunately, it worked both times, but not as well in this latest cycle.
To be fair there was one case I did think clemency was fair, but that was because I thought the law was completely wrong on the matter and that was the case of Judy Norman, who Imho, should have gotten a self defense instruction.
I suppose I'm looking through a narrow perspective; I live in Florida, and our parole boards as well as governors do NOT grant parole lightly or that often. Just as in Texas. We don't have a lot of fundamentalist Christian governors here in Florida. Our current governor is a Tea Party extremist and signs death warrants in order to improve his popularity numbers. He's done that in two cycles now. Unfortunately, it worked both times, but not as well in this latest cycle.
If it was a deterrent, that would make sense, but it isn't so it doesn't to me. It just screws the taxpayers and throws people away, rendering them useless to society or themselves.
The other guy involved in the murder, who actually decapitated someone, was paroled and has done nothing wrong since.
The parole board has recommended Davis for parole twice now.
Davis has earned a doctorate while in prison.
Davis is now a senior citizen.
But the governor says he's a danger to society because he hasn't adequately explained why he championed the Manson Family's interests 40 years ago?
I think we can accurately translate this as Governor Brown is afraid of seeing media headlines that he paroled a Manson Family member and values publicity more than justice or another man's rights.
I agree with you ^^^^
It appears to me that the investigation was pretty shabby. Davis was nailed for involvement with Hinman simply on the word of a Manson family member who changed her story numerous times. If they had to actually prove who did what, I think they'd come up short.
Politics and emotions drove the lynchmob, and it continues to this day.
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Our current governor is a Tea Party extremist and signs death warrants in order to improve his popularity numbers. He's done that in two cycles now. Unfortunately, it worked both times, but not as well in this latest cycle.
