I read an interesting piece the other day which made me wonder again about Bruce. Does he possibly know more, and could he really get out and away without talking about it? A few years ago I never would have given a minutes credence to the idea of him walking free. But, lately I am hearing more and more opinions and ideas which are making me start to wonder just a bit. Even Conservatives are starting to suggest that it could be conceivable that MR. Bruce Davis is getting closer to going home. The following is an article I read by Debra Saunders who is a conservative columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle. Syndicated by Creators Syndicate, her thrice weekly column is also carried by newspapers throughout the country and on townhall.com. I didn't include all the links in her piece but the relevant one about the Governors record is at the bottom....
Odds are Manson killer Bruce Davis goes free
“A parole
board panel has recommended the release of a former Charles Manson follower
imprisoned for 40 years for a double murder Manson engineered, but it’s not the
last hurdle Bruce Davis will face as he seeks his freedom,” the Associated
Press reported.
But this is
how the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation announced what
happened:
Parole Granted for Former Manson Family Member
Bruce Davis
San Luis Obispo — “ The California Department
of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s Board of Parole Hearings (BPH) issued a
grant of parole today for convicted killer and former Charles Manson associate
Bruce Davis, 69, during a parole consideration hearing at California Men’s
Colony. Today’s decision was the result of Davis’ 27th parole suitability hearing. Davis was not convicted in the infamous 1969
Sharon Tate or LaBianca killings. His conviction was for the 1969 first-degree
robbery/murders of musician Gary Hinman and stuntman Donald “Shorty” Shea.
Steve Grogan also was convicted for those crimes. In 2010 the
parole board also recommended parole for Davis in January 2010, but Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger reversed the ruling. Gov. Jerry Brown has 120 days to do
likewise, or not.
What will
Brown do?
Spokesman Gil Duran declined comment when asked by the Associated
Press. If Duran responds to my email, I shall post an update. Michael Rushford
of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation told me he thinks Davis should die in
prison, but “I think he’s going to get out. I think Jerry’s going to let him out.”
As he wrote here, Rushford believes that Brown has returned to the sort
of anti-law enforcement views that led him to appoint Rose Bird as California
Chief Justice during his first stint as governor. Rushford cited a Sacramento
Bee story that found Brown let stand roughly 82 percent of the board’s
decisions to parole convicted killers last year. By comparison, Schwarzenegger
let stand 27 percent of such cases, while Gray Davis affirmed two percent of
parole grants for murderers.
I wonder
how this decision will affect how Californians vote on Proposition 34, the
ballot measure to end the state’s capital-punishment law.
Read Michael Rushford piece:
