A man who says he’s the grandson of Charles Manson and wants to be the permanent administrator of the infamous criminal’s estate has appealed a judge’s order that he undergo DNA testing to prove his kinship, so a judge Thursday put the entire case on hold until the fall.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Clifford Klein signed an order Nov. 22 directing that 44-year-old Jason Freeman provide a DNA sample so that his claim to be Manson’s grandson can be ascertained before trial. Then, on Dec. 5, the judge issued an order saying it had to be done by Jan. 10, but Freeman filed an appeal a day earlier.
On Thursday, the judge delayed setting trial of the case because of the appeal, which could take nearly a year to be heard depending on the briefing schedule set by the 2nd District Court of Appeal justices.
“We don’t have any test results,” said Klein, who set a status conference for Sept. 24.
Former Manson pen pal Michael Channels, who has filed a competing petition to be permanent administrator of the estate, had asked for the DNA test of Freeman. Channels appeared in court Thursday, but Freeman was not present.
In his court papers, Channels said Manson’s 2002 will, filed in Kern County in November 2017, names him as the executor of Manson’s estate.
Alan Davis, an attorney for Dale Kiken, a lawyer and current temporary special administrator of the Manson estate, said Klein has jurisdiction over Freeman, a resident of Bradenton, Fla., because Freeman voluntarily made himself a part of the California-based Manson case.
Kiken has been tasked with recovering property, on behalf of Freeman, that Manson left behind in prison when he died at age 83 on Nov. 19, 2017, at Bakersfield Mercy Hospital of heart failure triggered by colon cancer.
Freeman previously told the judge that he would not voluntarily agree to DNA testing, but would obey a court order to do so. In March 2018, a Kern County commissioner ruled that Freeman was entitled to Manson’s remains. Freeman and Kiken are challenging the validity of the Manson will that Channels alleges is authentic.
Davis said previously that the Kern County order established that Freeman was Manson’s grandson. He also said that in February 1986, an Ohio judge found that Freeman was the son of Charles Manson Jr., who committed suicide in June 1993.