Governor Brown gets final call on parole for Manson follower Bruce Davis

From wire reports  • 

Former Manson Family member Bruce Davis, who was sentenced to life in prison for two 1969 murders carried out with other members of the cult, was granted parole yesterday by a California parole board, although it remains uncertain whether he will be freed.

Davis’ parole still must be affirmed by Gov. Jerry Brown, who reversed a similar decision by the same board last year, saying that the 71-year-old convicted killer remained a danger to the public.

Davis has been serving a life sentence since his 1972 conviction for the murders of music teacher Gary Hinman, who was stabbed to death in July 1969, and stuntman Donald “Shorty” Shea, who was killed the following month.

Manson became one of the 20th century’s most infamous criminals in the summer of 1969, when he directed his young, mostly female followers to murder seven people in what prosecutors said was part of a plan to incite a race war.