LOS ANGELES (AP) — Gov. Jerry Brown rejected parole for a
third time Friday for a follower of cult leader Charles Manson 46 years
after a series of bloody murders rocked Southern California. Bruce Davis was convicted of the 1969 slayings of
musician Gary Hinman and stuntman Donald "Shorty" Shea. He was not
involved in the more notorious killings of actress Sharon Tate and six
others.
Brown said that the 73-year-old Davis remains a danger to
public safety, saying in his decision that the "horror of the murders
committed by the Manson Family in 1969 and the fear they instilled in
the public will never be forgotten."
The governor said Davis spent years downplaying his role in the family.
"As
I've discussed twice before, Davis's own actions demonstrate that he
had fully bought into the depraved Manson Family beliefs," Brown wrote
in his decision. "He not only watched as Manson cut Mr. Hinman's face
open with a sword, but held him at gunpoint while Manson was doing so."
Tate's
sister Debra Tate, who spoke against Davis's parole at his hearing to
represent Manson's victims, had not yet heard about the governor's
rejection when reached by phone by The Associated Press.
"Oh God, I am so glad he did that," Tate said. "I have been sweating bullets, as you can imagine."
Tate
said the consistent rejection of parole for Manson followers from
governors through the years has not given her any comfort, and
California's recent moves to release older prisoners have left her
especially worried.
"I see it as a very viable possibility that all of them could be let out," Tate said. "None of them are secure."
Brown
blocked Davis' parole twice before, most recently in 2014, and former
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger also previously opted to keep Davis
imprisoned at California Men's Colony in San Luis Obispo.
Davis is
serving a life sentence after he was convicted of two counts of
first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder and robbery. He
became a born-again Christian behind bars, earned a doctoral degree in
philosophy of religion and ministers to other inmates.
A message
left with Davis' attorney, Michael Beckman, was not immediately returned
on Friday. Beckman said previously that the Board of Parole Hearings
was simply following the law when it recommended the release of a man
who is no longer dangerous.
Los Angeles County prosecutors argued
against his release, citing the gruesome nature of the crimes that kept
Southern Californians fearful for months. They also noted that Manson's
intent was to spark a race war, based on his interpretation of the
Beatles song "Helter Skelter." He thought the slayings would spark an
Armageddon-like war between whites and blacks that would benefit his
"family" of disciples.
The governor wrote Friday that Davis has
still "not explained what, other than a desire for acceptance, allowed
him to suspend reality to accept that Helter Skelter was real and that
he needed to contribute — in a violent way — to the beginning of the
apocalypse."
Debra Tate said
that she has seen many Manson family members at hearings through the
years. She said that while they have sometimes led exemplary lives in
the controlled environment of prison, "these are sociopaths."
She
fears what would happen to them in the real world, where "the
challenges of everyday life could turn them back into the same monsters
they were in 1969."
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