April 2, 2025 The Best Source of News, Culture, Lifestyle for Culver City, Mar Vista, Del Rey, Palms and West Los Angeles

Heinous Killers Like Mansons Should Never Go Free

By Tom Elias

 Thomas B. Elias, Columnist

Buried in the back pages of newspapers and not even making it onto many television and radio news programs this summer was the news that Gov. Jerry Brown again refused parole a member of the murderous Manson Family gang, while a parole board denied freedom to another.

But these actions raised more questions than they answered. For example, should heinous killers like Charles Manson and most of his vicious followers ever be allowed back on the streets? What might new and younger governors with no personal memories of the Manson-inspired 1969 murder spree do when parole boards made up of their appointees recommend freedom for these and other murderers whose crimes are in some ways comparable.

In his latest refusal of a Manson Family member’s parole bid, Brown denied release to Bruce Davis, convicted in 1972 in the slayings of musician Gary Hinman and movie stuntman Donald (Shorty) Shea. Brown did not deny that Davis has improved himself and gone 25 years with no prison discipline for misconduct.

But, he said, these things are “outweighed by negative factors…incredibly heinous and cruel offenses like these constitute the ‘rare circumstances’ in which the crime alone can justify a denial of parole.”

Brown’s action came within a day of a ruling by a parole panel at the California Institute for Women in Corona blocking release for former Manson follower Patricia Krenwinkel, whose lawyer insisted she only went along with the Manson murders because of physical abuse by Manson.

The board wasn’t buying it, perhaps because Krenwinkel was one of several “Manson girls” who came to court daily during their trials with X’s carved into their foreheads as signs of continuing support for Manson. Krenwinkel was one of those who cut power and telephone lines at the Beverly Hills-area estate of actress Sharon Tate and then murdered her and four others, stabbing them over and over.

The next night, she helped kill grocer Leno LaBianca and his wife Rosemary in the Hollywood Hills, helping carve the word “WAR” into one victim’s stomach and scrawling other words in blood near the victims’ bodies.

Besides the murders themselves, one troubling part of all this is that parole boards persistently recommend release for some Manson followers. They are perhaps the best-known of many sadistic California killers, including the likes of Edmund Kemper, the Santa Cruz area’s “Coed Killer” of the 1960s and ‘70s, and Lawrence Bittaker and Roy Norris, the notorious “Tool Box Killers” who kidnapped, raped, tortured and murdered five young women in Southern California in 1979.

While Brown has said that some serious criminals can “change their thinking,” he has always left the Manson Family killers out of that category. No one knows if future governors will do the same.

That’s why it’s high time the Legislature created a new category of crime, one whose perpetrators can never be considered for parole. Had such a law existed when the Mansons and some others were convicted, relatives of the victims would not have to feel compelled to attend parole hearings and revive their pain every few years just to make sure the most brutal of murderers don’t go free.

For sure, the Manson followers have been like a plague on California’s consciousness that’s impossible to eradicate. They keep trying for parole and Brown keeps saying no, as did predecessors Gray Davis and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Perhaps these killers are encouraged by the success a few of their former pals in the Family had in getting released: Linda Kasabian in the 1970s as part of a plea deal that saw her provide key testimony against Manson and friends, Steve Grogan in 1985 for leading authorities to the body of Shea on the Spahn Movie Ranch near the Los Angeles suburb of Chatsworth, and Lynette (Squeaky) Fromme in 2009, more than 30 years after she tried to shoot then-President Gerald Ford. None of those three, however, participated in the Tate or LaBianca killings.

The repeated parole attempts are certainly within the legal rights of all convicted killers, but they should not be. It’s high time legislators make sure no future governor can ever lose this worst sort of criminal back on the public.

 

Related Posts

(Video) Spending an Afternoon at Pacific Park on the Santa Monica Pier

April 1, 2025

April 1, 2025

Go To Pacpark.com For Tickets and More Information. Go To https://t.co/fDDgcY6b3e For Tickets and More Information.#amusementpark #rides #rollercoaster #summer #spring...

Matū Kai to Debut in Brentwood With Grass Fed Wagyu and Global Flair This Week

April 1, 2025

April 1, 2025

Farm-To-Fork Beef, Wood-Fired Flavors, and Sustainability Meet on San Vicente The team behind Beverly Hills’ acclaimed steakhouse Matū has expanded...

Mid-City Freeway Death Under Investigation After Caltrans Workers Find Blanket-Covered Body

April 1, 2025

April 1, 2025

Woman Discovered on 10 Freeway Shoulder Identified; CHP Launches Probe Caltrans workers discovered a woman’s dead body around 9:00 a.m....

Community Support Saves Beloved West Hollywood Café from Closure

March 31, 2025

March 31, 2025

Packed Tables and Emotional Messages Helped Keep the Doors Open Le Petit Four, the popular Sunset Boulevard café known for...

Egg Beaters Recalled Over Possible Chemical Contamination

March 31, 2025

March 31, 2025

Massive Liquid Egg Recall Includes California Shipments Cargill Kitchen Solutions is recalling approximately 212,268 pounds of liquid egg products after...

Los Angeles County’s Measure A Raises Sales Tax On April 1, And It’s No Joke

March 31, 2025

March 31, 2025

Santa Monica, West Hollywood, Culver City, and Malibu Will See Higher Increases Starting April 1, Los Angeles County residents will...

Robbery Boast on Instagram Helps Send Beverly Hills Heist Suspect to Prison

March 31, 2025

March 31, 2025

Flashy Post, Federal Time: Smash-and-Grab Mastermind Sentenced Ladell Tharpe, 39, received an 84-month sentence from U.S. District Judge George H....

Culver City Rolls Out Hi-Lo Siren to Warn Residents During Emergencies

March 31, 2025

March 31, 2025

Hi-Lo Warning System Activated: Culver City Adds New Evacuation Tool In an effort to strengthen emergency preparedness and public safety,...

Union Workers at UCLA to Strike April 1 Over Staffing Shortages, Labor Disputes

March 31, 2025

March 31, 2025

Healthcare and Research Staff at UC to Strike, Alleging Unfair Labor Practices More than 20,000 healthcare, research, and technical professionals...

School of Rock Students Shine in Winter Performance Despite Widespread Fires

March 31, 2025

March 31, 2025

Summer Camp Registration Opens Now By Susan Payne Wildfire devastation wreaked havoc in areas of Los Angeles this January with...

Full House Creator’s Cielo Drive Estate Returns With Massive Price Drop

March 30, 2025

March 30, 2025

Franklin’s Mansion, Once the Site of the Manson Tragedy, Back on Market Full House creator Jeff Franklin is returning to...

Santa Monica, Beverly Hills See Real Estate Shifts After L.A. Wildfires

March 30, 2025

March 30, 2025

Beverly Hills and Brentwood Listings Triple in Wake of January Fires Home sales and listings have shifted dramatically across Westside...

Deputies Open Fire on Suspect in West Hollywood, Triggering Street Closures

March 30, 2025

March 30, 2025

Suspect Shot by LASD in West Hollywood Domestic Violence Response Authorities are investigating a shooting that occurred Saturday evening in...

West Hollywood Resident Returns, Vandalizes Property, 30 Minutes After Eviction

March 30, 2025

March 30, 2025

“Neighbor From Hell” Tried to Re-Enter His Apartment and Damaged Property Valentino Lopez, a 41 year old, male Hispanic, was...

New Deadline, More Access: LA County Debris Program Expands Scope, Extends Signup

March 30, 2025

March 30, 2025

Officials Broaden Scope to Help More Residents, Encourage Early Submission Los Angeles County officials have announced that FEMA has agreed...