• Bruce Davis Recommended For Parole

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif., Oct. 4 – The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s Board of Parole Hearings (BPH) issued a grant of parole today for convicted killer and former Charles Manson associate Bruce Davis, 69, during a parole consideration hearing at California Men’s Colony. Today’s decision was the result of Davis’ 27th parole suitability hearing.

The BPH issued a grant of parole to Davis in January 2010 because of his positive adjustment, record of no recent disciplinary problems, and for successfully completing academic and vocational education and self-help programs. However, the parole grant was reversed by former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in June 2010, who concluded Davis was still dangerous because of an evaluator’s diagnosis of a personality disorder, Davis’ conformist tendencies, and his sporadic participation in substance-abuse programs over the years.

Davis challenged Governor Schwarzenegger’s reversal of his parole grant in Los Angeles County Superior Court, which ruled against Schwarzenegger and vacated his decision. In 2012, California’s Second District Court of Appeal upheld the Governor’s reversal of the January 28, 2010, grant, ruling that the Governor’s concerns were justified and supporting his conclusion that Davis was still dangerous.

Davis appeared before the panel today. The suitability finding is subject to a 120-day decision review period. If the grant is finalized at the conclusion of decision review, the Governor may conduct an independent review of the decision. Under California law, the Governor may reverse, modify, affirm or decline to review the Board’s decision.

Davis was sent to state prison on April 21, 1972, with a life sentence from Los Angeles County for two counts of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder and robbery. He was convicted for the July 25, 1969, murder of Gary Hinman and the murder of Donald “Shorty” Shea sometime in August 1969.

The BPH hearing transcript will serve as the official record and is expected to be transcribed in approximately 30 days.

Source: Terry Thornton: CDCR

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif., Sept. 29 – In August of 1971, Deputy District Attorney Vincent Bugliosi asked former family member Brooks Poston to explain the relationship between Bruce Davis and Charles Manson.

“It seemed to me that Bruce was competing with Charlie,” said Poston. “He was trying to be an equal with Charlie or even he — he was loud-mouthed.

“Whereas when Charlie would generally speak most of the people in the family would keep silent and listen, unless he asked them something directly or he said, ‘What do you think,’ or, ‘Say something.’

“But Bruce would interrupt Charlie when he was talking and he talked in a real loud voice, and it seemed like that he liked the power that he had when Charlie wasn’t around because he could have one of the girls run and fetch him something.”

“You got the impression that Bruce Davis wasn’t subservient to Charlie either?” questioned Bugliosi.

“It seemed to me that he had more ego than any of the other guys I ever saw there,” answered Poston. “So that he hadn’t given it up to Charlie.”

This is the kind of portrayal that Bruce Davis and his attorney, Michael Beckman, will try to distance themselves from Thursday, when Davis appears before the California Board of Parole Hearings for the 27th time.

Much of the debate at Davis’ prior parole hearings, has centered around his role in the family. Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Patrick Sequeira has presented Davis as a leader within the group, while Beckman has maintained there is nothing to support it.

“If the District Attorney here had one ounce of proof that Mr. Davis had a leadership position in the Manson family, he’d be pointing you to the relevant pages from the trial transcripts,” Beckman told the board in 2008. “There’s nothing. He had nothing. There was nothing in these trial transcripts that said it at all.”

That same year, Sequeira cited a psych evaluation from 1980, that suggested Davis aspired to be a leader. “He is strongly motivated to leadership, it is unlikely that Mr. Davis would tolerate a subordinate, subservient role,” wrote Dr. Richard Lowenthal. “Consequently, the inmate’s implication that he was an unthinking follower of an intuitive charismatic leader is inconsistent with available data.”

Davis, serving a life term for the murders of Gary Hinman and Donald “Shorty” Shea, was recommended for parole in 2010, but was later denied by then-governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

In July of 1969, Davis drove Bobby Beausoleil, Susan Atkins, and Mary Brunner to Gary Hinman’s Topanga Canyon home with the intentions of getting money from Hinman.

“I didn’t know [Bruce] very well,” said Beausoleil. “He was one of the guys I looked up to, you know. He’s just one of the older guys that I was trying to emulate at the time. He hung out with Danny DeCarlo. They were into guns. I wasn’t. Bruce Davis gave me the gun that I took to Gary Hinman’s house with me.”

“Bruce drove and just dropped us off,” said Mary Brunner. “We decided that Sadie and I would go to the house and if Gary was there alone, we’d signal at the window. We were going to ask Gary for some money — for $3,000 or $30,000 — I’m not sure how much.

“Bobby asked Gary for the money, and Gary said he didn’t have any. Bobby said we weren’t kidding and pulled out the gun and there was a fight.”

“I hit him with the gun two or three times,” said Beausoleil. “It was because I thought he was lying to me. That was my response and it was the instructions that I had been given by the guys who put the gun in my hand and told me to get the money back, Bruce Davis and Danny DeCarlo.”

The three held Hinman hostage for the weekend. Sometime during the conflict, Hinman managed to take possession of the gun. A call was made to Spahn Ranch, but by the time Charles Manson and Bruce Davis arrived to Hinman’s, Beausoleil had already gotten the gun back from Gary.

“We heard someone coming up the steps,” said Brunner. “It was Charlie and Bruce and there was a rush fight in the living room. They came in and it was just, instantaneous…there was pushing and shoving and they wound up in the living room.”

Manson slashed Hinman across the face with a sword, cutting his left ear and cheek. Davis took back his .9mm and left with Manson in Gary Hinman’s Fiat.

Finally on Sunday evening, after Hinman signed over the pink slips to his two cars, Beausoleil stabbed him twice in the heart. Beausoleil, Atkins and Brunner took turns smothering Hinman with a pillow case before hotwiring his Volkswagen and returning to Spahn’s Ranch.

A month later, late in August of 1969, Manson told Davis they were going to kill Donald “Shorty” Shea.

“I was standing there. I couldn’t even get away. We were all just right there together,” said Davis. “I said, okay, here we go. I got in the back seat opposite him, Grogan was on my left, Watson was in front of me. Mr. Shea was driving.

“Watson tells him pull over. He hesitates. Watson stabs him. He pulls the car over. Grogan hits him in the head.

“I knew in the Hinman case that I was on — it was bad. I knew that. But you know, I had deceived myself into thinking that if I don’t — if I didn’t shoot Gary, if I don’t beat him up, that I’m okay.

“Manson pulled up in the car behind me. He came by and said let’s go. So I went. So I’m down there. They had already been stabbing him. He had a bigger knife. He handed me the machete.

“And he put the knife in my hand and said you better do something. Well, I know, I got the message.

“I reached out and I cut [Shea] right across the shoulder. I cut him with this knife. Boy this knife was sharp. It laid him open. I don’t know if he was dead or not.

“Steve Grogan and somebody, maybe somebody else, I don’t know if Grogan was the only person. They buried Shorty’s body”

Prior to Davis’ 2010 hearing, he had been given 23 consecutive one year denials. In 2006, he received a split decision and was later denied after an En Banc hearing in November of that year.

Davis’ hearing, originally scheduled for this past June, was postponed after Davis became ill shortly before its start. It was to be Davis’ first parole hearing with victims representatives in attendance. Debra Tate, sister of Sharon Tate, had planned to make a victim’s impact speech for the Hinman family. While former Manson family Barbara Hoyt, came to speak on behalf of the Shea family. Hoyt has opposed Davis’ release for years and testified at the En Banc hearing after Davis’ split-decision in 2006 .

“The public needs to know this man is very dangerous now as he was in 1969,” Tate told CNN in June.

Davis has been incarcerated since April 21, 1972. Since that time, Bruce has been active in many self-help and spiritual groups within the prison. His prison disciplinary record is near spotless, with only 2 rules violations in over 40 years, last one occurring over three decades ago.

Davis has continued his education, receiving a Master’s degree from Borean School of the Bible. In 1998, he received a Doctorate degree in philosophy and religion from Bethany Seminary, graduating summa cum laude.

In August of 2007, retired Superior Court Judge William Clark, wrote the board of parole hearings saying that “further incarceration beyond the 36 years served constitutes a miscarriage of justice,” and that Davis should be released.

Davis’ many support letters, from both inside and out of the prison walls, show the positive impact he has made during his incarceration.

In 2010, Davis’ attorney read a support letter from an inmate named Richard Kelly. Kelly wrote that he had planned to murder another inmate, but had a change of heart after conversation with Davis.

“I have observed Bruce during periods which would normally engender great stress in the average inmate,” wrote Kelly. “Nevertheless, I have observed Bruce to remain tranquil and apparently unaffected. When confronted with potentially volatile circumstances, I have observed him to be a force for calm. When faced with tests of his personal character and fortitude, I have observed Bruce to maintain a positive attitude regardless of the adversity.”

Which Bruce Davis will Thursday’s parole board see? The model prisoner and former follower that was reluctant to kill? Or the one time aspiring leader of a band of murderers?

There remains the massive stigma attached to those once associated with Charles Manson. There is still much speculation that there were other Manson family murders. There may not be solid evidence, but the court of public opinion needs little to convict.

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 8 – It was November, 1968. Richard Nixon had just won the presidential election, defeating Hubert Humphrey and George Wallace. NBC had just angered football fans across the country, when the network aired Heidi, instead of the last minute of the Oakland Raiders’ epic comeback win over the New York Jets. The Beatles had just released their self-titled double White Album. And in the Los Feliz district of Los Angeles, grocer Leno LaBianca and his wife Rosemary were in the process of moving.

For the past six years, the LaBianca’s had called 4053 Woking Way home. Woking Way wasn’t so much a street as it was a curve in the road. It winds in between Parva Avenue and Amesbury Road in the hills overlooking Silverlake.

The house at 4053 Woking Way was big – just over 6,000 square feet – and had a fantastic view of downtown and the pacific. It’s living room had vaulted ceilings and a staircase that led up to a Juliet balcony. The French-Normandy styled house was built in 1932 by Walt and Lillian Disney. It was equipped with a screening room where Walt reviewed studio dailies.

But for Leno and Rosemary LaBianca, the Woking Way house had become a financial burden. So that November, The LaBianca’s made arrangements to sell the Disney house and buy Leno’s mother’s home.

The house at 3301 Waverly Drive was no stranger to Leno LaBianca. His mother and father had purchased the home in 1940, and Leno and his sisters had grown up there. The white stucco, two bedroom home was modest, especially compared to the Disney house. It was perched high atop a sloping front yard, where, at family get-togethers, Leno’s children, nieces and nephews would lay sideways and roll down the hill, racing each other to the bottom.

But although the Waverly Drive house was filled with memories, the move back was only supposed to be a temporary one. Leno’s long term goal was to move away from the city and build a horse ranch.

Three months later, and 11 miles west of Los Feliz, Sharon Tate Polanski had plans to spend the day with real estate agent Elaine Young. Sharon and her husband Roman Polanski had spent much of their first year of marriage living at 1600 SummitRidge Drive.

The 2-story Cape Cod styled house at 1600 SummitRidge Drive sat high up on the hill overlooking Benedict Canyon. The Polanski’s were renting it from Sharon’s Valley of the Dolls co-star Patty Duke.

Columbia pictures had hired Bruce Lee to give Sharon martial arts lessons in preparation for her role in The Wrecking Crew. After Sharon introduced Lee to Roman, the martial artist would come by and teach the couple kung fu in the driveway of the SummitRidge house.

Sharon loved the SummitRidge Drive house, so Roman made an offer to buy it. But for whatever reason, Polanski and Patty Duke’s husband Harry Falk, couldn’t agree on a price.

In February of 1969, a newly pregnant Sharon began looking for a more permanent place for the couple to live and raise their child. Roman was scheduled to work on the script of Day of the Dolphin in London. Sharon herself, was booked to star in the Thirteen Chairs. With filming in Italy two months away, Sharon had little time to find a place to call home.

Elaine Young and Sharon looked at properties all over Los Angeles. Sharon finally settling on the secluded home at the end of Cielo Drive. The rustic farm house at 10050 Cielo Drive had been vacant for about a month. It’s previous tenants, Terry Melcher and Candice Bergen, had moved out shortly after New Year’s.

Roman Polanski signed the extended lease on February 12th, the same day opening statements began in the Sirhan Sirhan trial at the Hall of Justice.

Five months later, both the Polanski’s and LaBianca’s moves proved to be most unfortunate, when both of their new homes were invaded by a group dressed in black. Their futures were savagely erased, and forever linked to pure madness, speculation, and slander.

Both the Woking Way and SummitRidge Drive houses still stand today. 4053 Woking Way was recently on the market and sold for $3,700,000 on August 26, 2011. 1600 SummitRidge Drive has undergone some recent improvements and is currently on the market with an asking price of $5,395,000.

Dallas, Tex., Jun. 25 – In September of 1970, LAPD Sergeants Philip Sartuchi and Manuel “Chick” Gutierrez flew to Dallas to accompany Charles “Tex” Watson back to California so he could face trial for the Tate/LaBianca murders. They had waited for nine frustrating months, as Watson’s Texas attorney Bill Boyd appealed his client’s inevitable extradition all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Boyd’s sole purpose for stalling was to ensure Watson would be tried separately from Charles Manson, Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel and Leslie Van Houten.

“The condition of the judicial system in Texas is nothing short of shameful,” said Los Angeles Deputy Dist. Atty. Vincent Bugliosi in May of 1970. “It’s calculated to frustrate the due administration of justice…shameful isn’t strong enough — it’s disgraceful.”

The delays had infuriated officials in Los Angeles to the point, that in July, County Supervisor Kenneth Hahn threatened to sue the state of Texas for $100,000 in damages.

Bill Boyd died suddenly in August of 2009, having a heart attack while running on his treadmill. Four months later Boyd’s law firm, Boyd/Veigel went into bankruptcy. Several items related to the Watson case were discovered when the firm’s assets were liquidated. Among them were audio recordings made between Watson and Boyd in 1970. Both Watson and the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office were contacted.

In September of 1976, Watson had signed a document that waived his attorney-client privilege so copies of the tapes could be sold to Chaplin Ray Hoekstra for $49,000. The recordings became the basis for Watson’s book with Chaplin Ray, Will You Die For Me?

This past March, LAPD sent a letter requesting the tapes to the Department of Justice. Detectives reasoned the recordings could provide information on possible unsolved crimes committed by the Manson family.

Last month a Texas bankruptcy court ordered the tapes be turned over to LAPD. The decision prompted a motion from both Charles “Tex” Watson and his local attorney. Both were denied.

According to Watson’s motion, “the LAPD’s letter to the Trustee…the Chief states: ‘THE LAPD has information that Mr. Watson discussed additional unsolved murders committed by the followers of Charles Manson.’ If this be so, and it is not. the request of the LAPD can be satisfied by listening the Tapes without taking possession of them LAPD.” Watson went on to write that he feared the tapes could end up in the media if LAPD were to take possession of them. And that could lead to further suffering for his victim’s families.

Watson was convicted and sentenced to death in 1971 for the seven Tate/LaBianca murders. His sentence was commuted to life on March 20, 1973 after the Supreme Court briefly outlawed the death penalty.

Watson was never charged or tried for the murder of Spahn Ranch hand Donald “Shorty” Shea.

In 1969, Shea was hired by Frank Retz to run the Manson family off of the Spahn Ranch property. Retz owned the neighboring property and was in negotiations to purchase a portion of Spahn. Retz didn’t like the family on either of the properties and called the police on them on several occasions. Manson placed blame on Donald Shea and was convinced he had been working with the police.

Sometime around August 28, 1969, Watson, along with Manson family members Bruce Davis and Steve Grogan, took a ride with Donald Shea. Shea was driving, with Watson sitting beside him. Watson instructed him to pull over, but Shea refused. Watson stabbed Shea and he finally pulled over. From the backseat, Grogan struck Shea with a pipe wrench. Another car containing Bill Vance, Larry Bailey, and Charles Manson pulled up behind them. The group took Shorty out of the car, brought him down a hill behind Spahn’s Movie Ranch and stabbed him to death.

Watson doesn’t discuss this murder in Will You Die For Me? So it’s likely he didn’t talk about it with Boyd. If that is the case, it’s doubtful these tapes contain any discussions about crimes other than the ones Watson was charged with.

LAPD had planned to fly to Dallas to take possession of the tapes on June 15. However, they canceled their plans when they learned Watson’s attorney William Kelly Puls planned to appeal to another court.

If and when the LAPD do take possession of the recordings, the tapes will be turned over the Scientific Investigation Division who will make digital copies for the Robbery Homicide Detectives to review.

Today, the eight cassette tapes sit waiting within a safe in a Dallas office building near the intersection of highways 635 and 75, locally known as the high five interchange.

Fifteen hundred miles away, at LAPD headquarters in downtown Los Angeles, officers wait for the tapes, just like the officers 4 decades ago waited for Watson himself.

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif., Jun. 8 – On Thursday, Homicide detectives from the LAPD will travel to Texas to take custody of 4o-year-old audio recordings in which Manson family member Charles “Tex” Watson discusses his crimes with his former attorney Bill Boyd.

Another member of Charles Manson’s family will make headlines on Wednesday, when Bruce Davis goes before the California Board of Parole Hearings in San Luis Obispo for the 27th time.

Davis was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for the murders of Gary Hinman and Donald “Shorty” Shea. In prison he became a born-again Christian and helped other imprisoned family members do the same.

At his last hearing in January of 2010 the Board of Parole Hearings recommended Davis for parole. However, then governor Arnold Schwarzenegger rejected the recommendation saying, “I believe his release would pose an unreasonable risk of danger to society at this time.”

Prior to Davis’ 2010 hearing, he had been given 23 consecutive one year denials. In 2006, he received a split decision and was later denied after an En Banc hearing in November of that year.

Davis, now 69, has been in prison for the Hinman/Shea murders since April 21, 1972. He has only had 2 115s¹ and 5 128s² in his 40 years in prison.

He received 128s for cross visiting in 1981; excessive noise in 1987; leaving a classroom prior to the closing of the class in 1988; receiving unauthorized prescription glasses in 1988; and lying to staff in 1992.

Davis’ last 115 was received over 3 decades ago. He received a 115 in 1975 for sharpening a spoon and one for conduct in 1980.

Since his incarceration, Bruce has been active in many self-help and spiritual groups within the prison. He has continued his education, receiving a Master’s degree from Borean School of the Bible. In 1998, he received a Doctorate degree in philosophy and religion from Bethany Seminary, graduating summa cum laude.

Although Davis’ prison record is almost spotless, there is opposition to his release, and not just from LASO and the District Attorney’s office. There are a few former Manson family members that have made their opposition known to the board.

Former family member Barbara Hoyt has not only written the board opposing Davis’ release, she testified in person at the November 20, 2006 En Banc hearing. The board has previously received an opposition letter from former family member Ella Jo Bailey. Bailey expressed that Davis had downplayed his role in the family and that he actually held a position of power within the group.

Despite this, Davis’ has plenty of supporters, both in and out of prison. And unlike hearings for the Tate-Labianca killers, there aren’t anyone from the Shea or Hinman families making victim impact speeches to the board.

There is little reason to believe the California Board of Prison Hearings will deny Davis’ parole bid this Wednesday. Which would mean the only thing keeping Davis in prison would be the Governor’s office.

According to an AP report in February, current California Governor Jerry Brown has allowed about 80 percent of decisions by the parole board to free convicted killers. Former Governor Schwarzenegger had allowed only 25 percent while former Governor Gray Davis allowed just 2 percent to walk free.