Killer Bruce Davis, a former member of the sadistic “Manson family,” led by the late Charles Manson, was granted parole on Friday after serving 47 years of a life sentence. However, he’s not in the clear yet.
New York Post reports that the final decision as to whether Davis actually walks out of the California Men’s Colony in San Luis Obispo as a free man is in the hands of Gov. Gavin Newsom. The governor previously overturned fellow Manson family killer Leslie Van Houten’s parole recommendation earlier this year.
Along with robbery and conspiracy to commit murder convictions, Davis was convicted of killing Donald ‘Shorty’ Shea and musician Gary Hinman in August 1969.
While the governor has 120 days to decide Davis’ fate, family members of victims killed by the Manson cult are speaking out, according to DailyMail.
Kay Martley an 82-year-old cousin of Gary Hinman, has never forgotten how Davis and other Manson members brutally tortured the peaceful and amiable musician for days, mistakenly thinking he had money to give them.
“I think [Davis] is a danger to the public and they can’t prove to me otherwise. He has not changed his ways and the clinician report said he still has a lot of personality disorders – they haven’t gone away.”
Debra Tate, 66, has been an outspoken victims’ rights advocate since her sister Sharon Tate’s infamous 1969 murder. Although Davis didn’t take part in Sharon’s murder, other Manson family members broke into her Los Angeles area home and slashed her to death when she was almost nine months pregnant.
“These people are domestic terrorists. If that term had existed in 1969, that’s what we would have called them. If they did the very same crime today, that is what we would tag them as. If someone was convicted of that crime today, they would get the death penalty. So let’s not confuse how ugly their crimes are.”
“They were predatory killers who wanted to continue more killings aimed at the demise of a race on this planet.”
Davis reportedly claimed he found religion while in prison, and has taken courses on victim awareness, anger management, and how to avoid relapse. He also said he planned to continue working as a quality control inspector if released, a trade he learned in prison.
Davis, now 76, suffers from emphysema and will need a hip replacement. Despite his health issues, Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney Donna Lebowitz said she’s against his release. She claimed the prisoner fails to understand the depth of the pain he’s caused to others and lacks insight.
This is Davis’ sixth time to be granted parole. All five previous attempts were blocked.
Check back with CrimeOnline as additional details become available.
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[Feature Photo: Bruce Davis/California Department of Corrections]
