Corrections and Rehabilitation
Former Charles Manson follower Bruce Davis — who was convicted of the murders of two men in the summer of 1969 — was denied parole by Gov. Gavin Newsom Friday, reversing a parole board recommendation.
Davis, 77, has been found suitable for parole six times, but has not been freed from prison because then-Govs. Jerry Brown and Arnold Schwarzenegger, and now Newsom have blocked his release.
Newsom reasoned that Davis was too dangerous to be released.
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.
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, who died in 2017, was repeatedly denied parole as have most of his co-defendants.
Robert Beausoleil, 72, who was also convicted in connection with the Hinman killing, remains incarcerated.
Also still in prison are one-time Manson acolytes Leslie Van Houten, 70; Patricia Krenwinkel, 71; and Charles ”Tex” Watson, 73. Newsom has also blocked the release of both Van Houten and Beausoleil.
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.
Davis is being held at the California Men’s Colony in San Luis Obispo.