• Charles Manson • 2007

DEPUTY COMMISSIONER LAWIN: We're on record.

PRESIDING COMMISSIONER BIGGERS: Okay. This is a Subsequent Parole Consideration Hearing for Charles Manson. CDC Number is B-33920. Today's date is May the 23rd, 2007. The time is 15 minutes to 2:00 and we're located at the California State Prison, Corcoran. Inmate was received on April the 22nd, 1971, from Los Angeles County. The life term began on April the 22nd, 1971 and the minimum eligible parole date was August the 19th, 2005. Controlling offense for which the inmate has been committed is Murder First Degree. That case number is A253156 and there were seven counts. There was an additional case that was done also and that case number is A267861 that was also a Murder First, and there was one count of that case. All of the counts were for a violation of a PC 187, First Degree Murder. The case numbers A253156 for the seven counts and then the single count of A267861.

DEPUTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY SEQUEIRA: Commissioner, I think there's two counts. There's two additional counts in that -- on the second case.

PRESIDING COMMISSIONER BIGGERS: Two additional counts? Okay. (Inaudible) so two additional counts. The 267861?

DEPUTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY SEQUEIRA: Yes.

PRESIDING COMMISSIONER BIGGERS: Okay.

DEPUTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY SEQUEIRA: There's two murders.

PRESIDING COMMISSIONER BIGGERS: All right. Thank you. The inmate received a term of 31 years to life with the minimum eligible parole date of August the 19th, 2005.

All right. This hearing is being tape-recorded and for the purpose of voice identification each of us will state our first and last name, spelling our last name. The inmate, Mr. Manson, has chosen not to be here for the hearing and therefore we will do what is necessary to ensure that his rights have not been violated. I will start and move to my right. My name is Archie Joe Biggers, B-I-G-G-E-R-S, and I'm a Commissioner with the Board of Parole Hearings.

DEPUTY COMMISSIONER LAWIN: Sharon Lawin, L-A-W-I-N, Deputy Commissioner, Board of Parole Hearings.

PRESIDING COMMISSIONER BIGGERS: Go ahead, Pat.

DEPUTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY SEQUEIRA: Patrick Sequeira, Deputy District Attorney, County of Los Angeles. Last name is spelled is S-E-Q-U-E-I-R-A.

MS. TATE: Debra Tate, sister of victim, spelled -- last name spelled T-A-T-E.

MS. KLINGE: Jo Klinge, K-L-I-N-G-E, support person for Debra Tate.

MS. JOHNSON: Sabrina Johnson, Administrative Assistant, Public Information Officer here at Corcoran State Prison. Last name is spelled J-O-H-N-S-O-N.

MR. MCCLURE: Paul McClure, Classification and Parole Representative, CSP Corcoran. That's M-C-C-L-U-R-E.

MS. HULBERT: Estelle Hulbert, OSS-1 for Records, also victim (inaudible) assistant. Last name is spelled H-U-L-B-E-R-T.

PRESIDING COMMISSIONER BIGGERS: Thank you.

MR. EISNER: Al Eisner, reporter, Fox Channel , Los Angeles.

PRESIDING COMMISSIONER BIGGERS: Could you please spell your last name, sir?

MR. EISNER: E-I-S-N-E-R.

PRESIDING COMMISSIONER BIGGERS: Thank you.

MS. GONZALEZ: Elizabeth Gonzalez, G-O-N-Z-A-L-E-Z, reporter, KSEE NBC out of Fresno.

MR. HOWARD: Roger Howard, H-O-W-A-R-D, photographer, KTTV.

MR. YBARRA: Joey Ybarra, photographer. It's J-O-E-Y Y-B-A-R-R-A.

PRESIDING COMMISSIONER BIGGERS: All right, thanks. Thanks to everyone. At this time we would normally have the inmate read the ADA Statement, but since Mr. Manson has indicated he would not be attending, I will refer to his 1073 to - and I want to go on record to say that the inmate was provided a copy of the 1073 and he refused to sign it; he even refused to acknowledge the document and this was signed by the CC-1 Nicholls on January 23rd, 2007. It does, however, state that Mr. Manson is involved in the Triple CMS Program and he's been involved with Triple CMS since January the 18th, 2005. The -- all indications are that even though he's involved with Triple CMS, that he has not taken any of the psychotropic medications that's been prescribed for him and the record appears to reflect that. So I am going to place on the record that he was afforded the opportunity to define any disabilities that pertain to the Americans with Disabilities Act and he elected not to do so, so I'm assuming that he has no ADA issues.

This hearing is being conducted pursuant to Penal Code Sections 3041 and 3042 and the Rules and Regulations of the Board of Prison Terms governing parole consideration hearings for life inmates. The purpose of today's hearing is to once again consider the number and the nature of the crimes that the inmate was committed for, his prior criminal and social history, and his behavior and programming since his commitment. We have had the opportunity to review his Central File and his prior transcript, and unfortunately, since he's not here, he will not be able to either correct or clarify the record so we will be dealing primarily with what we have in hand which is about four boxes of material. We will reach a decision today and inform the inmate whether or not we find him suitable for parole and the reason for our decision. If he is found suitable for parole, the length of his confinement will be explained to him. Nothing that happens here today is going to change the finding of the court. This Panel is not here to retry Mr. Manson's case. This Panel is here for the sole purpose of determining whether or not we feel that he's suitable for parole.

The hearing is going to be conducted in three phases. I will discuss the crime for which the inmate has been committed, his prior criminal and social history. Deputy Commissioner Lawin will discuss with -- his post-conviction factors to include a psychological evaluation, which I might add he did not attend. Is that correct? And then I will come back and talk about any parole plans and any letters of support and/or opposition that may be in the files. Once that is concluded, the commissioners, the district attorney will then -- primarily the district attorney now since Mr. Manson is not here -- I will ask the district attorney at that point to give his closing statement. At the conclusion of his closing statement, I'm going to ask the victim's next of kin, Ms. Tate, to go on the record with her statement and the impact on the commitment offense as to what it's done to her family. Once that is complete, we will at that point clear the room and go into deliberations. Once the deliberations are complete, we'll bring everybody back into the room and then we will announce our decision. Now, the California Code of Regulations state that regardless of time served an inmate -- a life inmate shall be found unsuitable for and denied parole if in the judgment of the Panel, the inmate would pose an unreasonable risk or danger to society if released from prison.

At this particular point I would question the inmate concerning his rights, and I want to go on record to state that Mr. Manson also waived his right to an attorney, so therefore we are going to do everything we can to ensure that his rights have not been violated. But at this point I would have asked him did he review his Central File, did he get a timely notice of the hearing. It appeared that he did. He declined and refused to sign whether or not he was going to review his C-File, and that was done on January the 23rd, 2007. And also there were no relevant documents that he had that he -- to produce. We would always ask that at this time as well. I would also ask him if he had - let him know that he had an additional right to be heard by an impartial Panel, and again, since he's not here, I would assume he does not object to the Panel. I would also -- the next item that I would ask him is -- and let him know that he would not be required to either discuss his offense if he desires not to do so and we cannot hold that against him, but however, we do accept the finding of the court to be true.

At this point I'm going to ask the Deputy Commissioner if any confidential material will be used.

DEPUTY COMMISSIONER LAWIN: No confidential material will be used. There is confidential material in the file.

PRESIDING COMMISSIONER BIGGERS: All right. Thank you, ma'am. I'm going to mark the Life Prisoner Parole Consideration Checklist and give it to the district attorney. I'm going to mark this as Exhibit 1, and provide it to you, Mr. Sequeira, so you can determine, make sure we all have the same set of documents.

DEPUTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY SEQUEIRA: I have received these documents on the checklist, thank you.

PRESIDING COMMISSIONER BIGGERS: All right. Thank you. Thank you very much. I do not -- I have not received any additional documents. There is one letter of support. That's the only thing that I've received that's from the inmate. Since he's not here and he doesn't have an attorney, I'm sure -- I assume there's no preliminary objections, and since he will not be speaking to us I'm going to read into the record the -- a summary of the crime, and I will do that from the Board Report that's dated May the 21st, 2007.

"Shortly before midnight on August the 8th, 1969, the inmate informed his crime partners that now was the time for Helter Skelter" -- H-E-L-T-E-R S-K-E-L-T-E-R for the transcriber. "Crime partners were directed to accompany Charles 'Tex' Watson in order to carry out the inmate's orders. The crime partners were Linda Kasabian, Susan Atkins and Patricia Krenwinkel. Watson drove to 10050 Cielo Drive. A vehicle containing victim Steven Parent approached the gate. Watson stopped him at gunpoint and fatally shot him. All the crime partners then proceeded to the house and gained entrance except Linda Kasabian, who stood as the lookout. Once inside they murdered Abigail Ann Folger, F-O-L-G-E-R, inflicting 28 multiple stab wounds to her body. Wojiciech, W-O-J-I-C-I-E-C-H, Frykowski, F-R-Y-K-O-W-S-K-I was killed by a gunshot wound to the back and multiple force trauma of a blunt agent to his head. Sharon Tate Polanski, P-O-L-A-N-S-K-I, who was eight months pregnant, was killed by multiple stab wounds. Jay Sebring, S-E-B-R-I-N-G, was killed by multiple stab wounds. On August the 10th, 1969, the inmate drove his crime partners to a location, to the residence of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca. That's L-A-B-I-A-N-C-A. The inmate entered the LaBianca home alone and at gunpoint tied up the victims. He impressed with them that they would not be harmed and that a robbery was taking place. He then returned to the vehicle containing his crime partners and directed them to enter the residence and kill the (inaudible). Crime partners Charles Watson, Patricia Krenwinkel, and Leslie Van Houten entered the residence and the inmate drove away from the scene. The crime partners killed Leno LaBianca by inflicting stab wounds to his neck and abdomen and carved the word 'war' on his stomach. Rosemary LaBianca was killed by multiple stab wounds to the neck and trunk. In both scenes the crime partners used blood of their victims to write words on the walls."

The inmate refused to discuss the case or give a statement. The inmate's social history is as follows:

"Mr. Manson was born on November the 11th, 1934, in Cincinnati, Ohio. He was born out of wedlock to Kathleen Maddox and has never seen his natural father. Shortly after his birth, his mother was sentenced to prison for assault and robbery. For a short while the inmate lived with his maternal grandparents in West Virginia. He rejoined his mother in Indiana upon her release from prison. The inmate later resided in various foster homes until he was made a ward of the court in 1947 and placed in Gibault, G-I-B-A-U-L-T, School for Boys in Indiana. The rest of his juvenile life was spent in various reformatories and boys' schools in Pennsylvania and Indiana. He dropped out of school at the age of nine; he was in the third grade at the time. He married a -- he married in 1954. The marriage ended in divorce in 1956. He had one son from the marriage, but he has not seen his son since the divorce. It appears that he has no work skills, no military service, but he has admitted to using LSD, mescaline, amphetamines and barbiturates, but he denies the use of alcohol. He has a pretty extensive prior history. He was placed as I mentioned earlier, in the - as a juvenile in the Gibault School for Boys in Terre Haute, Indiana in 1948 for burglarizing a grocery store. He went AWOL from the school -- and that's absent without leave -- from the school and was placed in Indiana State Reformatory in 1948. In February 1951 he went absent without leave again with two other boys. They subsequently stole an automobile and drove to Beaver, Utah where they were arrested. In 1951 he was convicted of violation of the Dyer Act and sentenced to the National Training School for Boys in Washington DC and he was paroled on May the 8th, 1954. His adult convictions and arrests are as follows: He was arrested on September the 15th, 1955 for grand theft auto in Los Angeles, California and received five years probation. On January 11th, 1956 he was -- he violated probation and the U.S. Marshall and he was -- under the Dyer Act and he was sentenced to three years in the federal prison in Los Angeles, California. He attempted to escape in 1957 and he received five years probation for that particular charge. On May the 1st of '59 -- 1959 to May the 4th, 1959 he was charged and then convicted for forgery and mail theft, and he had a ten years suspended sentence and five years of probation. On June the 21st, 1960, he was arrested for probation violation and was given ten years in the federal prison, McNeil Island in Washington State. On July the 28th, 1967, he was arrested for interfering with an officer and he got three years probation. On April the 21st, 1968 (inaudible) possession of a facsimile of a driver's license, and then on December 9th of 1969, he was arrested for the seven counts, and I might add he was sentenced to death and that was later reduced to life in prison."

He also had another crime, the multiple crime that we talked about earlier and that was a Murder First in -- on July the 26th, 1969 and that was one case, that case number that I mentioned earlier, A267861, and that was the victim of that crime was Mr. Gary Hinman, H-I-N-M-A-N, and on that particular case:

"On July the 26th, 1969 along with his crime partner -- and I'll spell that for the record -- B-E-A-U-S-O-L-E-I-L, Atkins, Grogan and Davis tortured Gary Hinman by severing part of his right ear and causing a laceration to the left side of his face. It appears that this was done because the inmate wanted Mr. Hinman to sign over his property, and on July the 27th, 1969 Mr. Hinman was killed by a stab wound through the heart which was inflicted by Beausoleil."

And again, the inmate refused to discuss the crimes. At this point I'm going to ask Deputy Commissioner Lawin to go over his post-conviction factors.

DEPUTY COMMISSIONER LAWIN: Thank you. Mr. Manson was last seen by the Board on April 24th, 2002. At that point he received a five-year denial. The Board recommended that he become, then remain disciplinary free, when available that he participate in self-help and therapy programs. There was then a three-year review of the five-year denial conducted on June 21st of 2005, and at that point the deputy commissioner who conducted that three-year review concluded that the five-year denial would stand based on the inmate's behavior and indicated that he had failed to remain disciplinary-free. At that point he had eight serious and one administrative rules violations, and there was no known participation in self-help or therapy or even if it was available to him as he did not participate in his three-year review. It was also noted at that point he was Triple CMS, part of the mental health delivery system.

Mr. Manson originally came to CDC on April 22nd, 1971, and to Corcoran on February the 5th, 1998. His classification score is currently 523 points. His placement score also 523 points. That places him in maximum custody. There are no holds or detainers on file and the 812 indicates he has seven non-confidential enemies and there's no gang affiliation.

In terms of his participation in programming for this review period, which goes back to the 2002 hearing, he was assigned to yard crew as a work assignment on May 3rd, 2006. He has received 12 new 115s, or rule violation reports, since his last hearing. That brings the total number of 115s to 99. October 1st, 2002, resisting a peace officer in the performance of his or her duties; October 1st, 2002, grooming standards; October 4th, 2002, refusing to obey orders; October 12th, 2002, disruptive behavior which could lead to violence; March 19th, 2003, illegal business dealings; August 18th, 2003, disrespecting staff; December 4th, 2003, possession of a deadly weapon; January 12th, 2005, destruction of state property; June 20th, 2005, destruction of state property; June 20th, 2005, battery on a peace officer; September 2nd, 2005, destruction of personal property; and August 2nd, 2006, behavior that could lead to violence. There have been six 128(a) counseling chronos received during this review period: May 11th, 1998, not in compliance with grooming standards; May 20th, 1998, failure to attend class; May 27th, 1998, failure to report; June 19th, 1998, attempting to correspond; March 25th, 1999, failure to attend class; and April 19th, 2005, violation of rules by destruction of state property. I don't know how many total 128(a) counseling chronos he has. There are literally too many to count.

The counselor's report for this review period was done by C. Nicholls, N-I-C-H-O-L-L-S, Correctional Counselor I. The report provides historical information as has already been placed on the file. Indicates under Summary that prior to release the inmate could benefit from psychiatric treatment, become disciplinary-free, upgrade vocationally and educationally, and participate in self-help programs. Under Point C, "Manson was given the opportunity to review, check appropriate boxes, and sign BPH documents for this BPH hearing. He refused to sign documents which dealt with waiver of rights to attend hearing, waiver of postponement of hearing, Central File review, and consent for attorney to examine records. Subject stated he considers himself a prisoner of the political system, and his appearance before the Board is questionable." There's also a post-conviction progress report or a number of them for this review period, which provides the same information about his program. There are no chronos to go through or to go over placed on record that have not already been listed. There are a number of informational chronos for the record but nothing extraordinary. They have to do with his housing and his loss of privileges and medical issues.

We do have a psychiatric report. This report is dated March 23rd, 2007. It was completed by T. George, G-E-O-R-G-E, Ph.D., forensic psychologist. It is quite lengthy. The inmate indicated that he was not interested in being interviewed for the psychological evaluation. The doctor writes,

"The inmate spoke in a tangential manner, attempted to manipulate the process of the interview. He wanted to be interviewed in the day room area of his unit, did not give a direct answer to the above questions even when prompted, thus all information provided in this evaluation is based upon a file review or paper review."

The doctor restates the questions, which had been posed by the 2002 Panel of the psychologist when they requested a new psychological evaluation. The doctor writes of insight and self-assessment,

"Due to the inmate's refusal to participate in an interview for this report, the undersigned was unable to assess this area fully. Records do indicate that the inmate has consistently denied any complicity in the controlling offenses. He also continues to struggle to follow the rules and regulations of the institution in which he is incarcerated, as evidenced by 12 CDCR 115 rule violations since his last BPH hearing."

Under Diagnostic Impression, via record review only, under Axis II, antisocial personality disorder -- that is the principal diagnosis -- CSO typical personality disorder, a number of medical issues -- a Global Assessment of Functioning of 75.

"Via records the inmate has had a variety of Axis I disorders including schizophrenic reaction chronic, schizophrenia residual, mixed substance abuse and remission, psychoactive substance abuse not otherwise specified, paranoid delusional disorder, and schizo affective disorder. Based on a record review, the inmate is not currently suffering from any acute emotional or mental health symptoms with the intensity or duration necessary to meet the DSM-IV criteria for any of the Axis I thought or mood disorders. Regarding Axis II there is significant evidence to warrant a principal diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder with a secondary diagnosis of schizotypical -- or schizotypal, S-C-H-I-Z-O-T-Y-P-A-L, personality disorder for this inmate."

Under Previous Evaluation Summaries,

"Based on record review, the undersigned opines that the inmate meets criteria for both antisocial and schizoid personality disorders."

Under Risk Assessment, the prisoner's violence potential in the free community was one of the issues that the prior Panel asked to be addressed. The doctor then uses a number of tools to provide us with a risk factor including the psychopathy checklist which is called the PCL-R, the history clinical risk or HCR 20, and the data for scoring these instruments were obtained from information derived in both the inmate interview and the files reviewed.

"Under the PCL-R the inmate scored in the high range, indicating that he is considered to be psychopathic. He has psychopathic traits such as criminal versatility, promiscuous sexual behavior, impulsivity, parasitic lifestyle, and poor behavior controls. He also demonstrated other significant traits of the psychopath including pathological lying, grandiosity, and shallow affect. He also does not display remorse or empathy and does not take responsibility for his own actions. Under the HCR his score placed him in the high range. The inmate attained scores that would suggest that his risk for future violence would be high."

The doctor then goes into detail about each of these tools and the reasons that the conclusions were reached.

"In the clinical or more current and dynamic domain of risk assessment the inmate presented via records as glib and superficial. He consistently offered excuses and rationalizations for his behaviors and denied any feelings of remorse as evidenced by review of prior psychological evaluations. He has not participated in any treatment programs while incarcerated beyond Triple CMS and medication management. He appeared to have little insight regarding his role in his life difficulties. He consistently blamed others for his problems as recently as during his refusal for an interview with the undersigned on March 20th, 2007. There is some confusion as to the existence of a major mental disorder. By history the inmate has received numerous psychiatric diagnosis. However, records are unclear as to the inmate displaying any active psychiatric symptoms since the late 1970s. Currently he does not demonstrate any active signs or symptoms of a major mental illness based on record review. Overall, then, risk assessment estimates suggest that the inmate poses a high likelihood to become involved in a violent offense if released into the free community. This estimate takes into account the inmate's cultural background, language issues, personal, social and criminal history, institutional programming, community social support, release plans and current clinical presentation. In conclusion, at this time he does not currently present as a candidate for any noteworthy change as a result of psychotherapeutic intervention."

Again, that's Dr. T. George. Commissioner, I believe that would conclude the inmate's program for this review period.

PRESIDING COMMISSIONER BIGGERS: All right. Thank you very much, Deputy Commissioner Lawin. I'm going to move into his parole plans. The inmate, Mr. Manson, did not offer any residential plans, no employment plans, and as noted for the record in Deputy Commissioner Lawin's presentation, he doesn't appear to have any marketable skills. We do have a support letter and it's dated -- it was received in the institution on January 24th, 2007, but it's undated and it's from a Carol Gallego, G-A-L-L-E-G-O and it's a support letter. She indicated she was only 13 years old when the inmate came to prison and she's never met the man, but all she's ever heard about and learned from is by books and news media, and then she wrote some things that she said that bothers her about the -- his incarceration, and she indicated that she thinks it's time to set this innocent man free. "Please consider initiating a further investigation" and I won't go into all of the details of what was said about and the five items that she brought up in this support letter for the inmate.

We did send out 3042 notices and those are notices that go out to law enforcement agencies who have an interest in this case. I did receive a letter from the Los Angeles Police Department and it's dated April the 13th, 2007, and it states as follows:

"The purpose of this correspondence is to respond to the notice sent to this agency regarding the pending parole hearing for Charles Manson, CDC No. B-33920 scheduled for the week of May the 21st, 2007. Thank you for the opportunity to express the interests of the Los Angeles Police Department and the citizens who rely on this organization for their protection. During two days in August of 1969, Charles Manson orchestrated the brutal slaying of seven innocent people whom he never met. He did this to further his deranged dream to initiate a race war. The crimes to be known as the Tate-LaBianca murders terrified the Greater Los Angeles area and horrified the country. Charles Manson befriended and brainwashed a group of disenfranchised young people and used them to advance his criminal and violent interest. Those notorious indescribable crimes remain a part of the nation -- of the national consciousness. The facts of these cases clearly establish that Charles Manson is a cold-blooded psychopath unlikely to be rehabilitated by the passage of time. His release from custody would terrify citizens and pose a viable threat to public safety. On behalf of the citizens of Los Angeles it is my request -- it is the request of the Los Angeles Police Department that Charles Manson be denied parole."

And this is signed, very truly yours, William Bratton, Chief of Police, and it was signed for him by a Harlan L. Ward, Commander -- Commanding Officer, Detective Service Group. We also have the district attorney from Los Angeles County, Mr. Sequeira, who I will now ask him to close please.

DEPUTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY SEQUEIRA: Thank you. Inmate Charles Manson remains an unsuitable candidate for parole and continues to pose a grave risk of danger to public safety. His criminal behavior began at an early age. He was raised in an environment, first of all, that was very unstable. His mother was arrested and sent to prison. He began his criminal behavior at the age of 14. He was involved in theft-related offenses. He was sent to school -- a reform school. He escaped from the reform school. He was arrested for stealing an automobile. This continued on until ultimately he was placed into federal prison. After being released from federal prison he essentially dropped out from society and at that point began living at the Spahn Ranch with a group of other disenfranchised individuals, and from that point you can see his pattern of criminal behavior escalated. It escalated in terms of the types of crimes that he was committing, but also in terms of the extreme violence. Charles Manson and his crime family needed funding for the -- for their activities. One source of funding that they believed was available was a young musician by the name of Gary Hinman who they believed was about to inherit a large sum of money. They basically then descended upon Mr. Hinman's residence. They kept him in his house, they tortured him, and attempted to get money from him over a period of several days, Charles Manson personally slashing his ear, almost severing it entirely, causing a couple of the female crime partners to try to sew his ear back together with dental floss. He signed over pink slips to two of his automobiles and ultimately he was killed. After he was killed, there was writing in his blood in his residence which was designed to try to blame this crime upon Black Panthers or blacks in general.

This was part of an evolving philosophy that Charles Manson and his family had at that time which was basically to incite a race war. Their opinion was that if they could commit these random brutal acts of violence upon unsuspecting victims who they did not know and attempt to blame them upon blacks, that a race war would ensue, and that at the conclusion of this race war where thousands of people would be injured and killed, Charles Manson would emerge from the desert with his trusted lieutenants and essentially take over the country because he was smart enough and would be able to lead and there would be a need for leadership at that point. As farfetched as that theory appears today, back in 1969 there was a -- it was a time of racial strife in the United States and in California in particular. The Watts riots had occurred a few years earlier and this, you know, as twisted as this theory was, it certainly had more validity then than of course it would have today.

But if you look at inmate Manson and his crime partners' activities in these nine murders, you can see the beginnings of a group that was not only dropped out of society, but basically was involved in domestic terrorism. These people were committing crimes to incite more violence, and as horrible as these nine murders were -- and I'll go through those in detail in just a moment -- the fact that these nine murders were committed with the intent as a catalyst for even more murders is even more horrifying.

After Gary Hinman was killed, of course, the next major operation by the Manson crime family was the murders at the Tate residence. On the night of August the 9th, 1969, five victims were brutally slaughtered at that residence. Steve Parent was shot and killed as he was just driving out of the residence -- he lived in the back house. The others were bludgeoned, they were stabbed, they were shot, and Sharon Tate was brutally murdered -- and at that time she was eight months pregnant -- by a group of individuals who not only exhibited extreme brutality but also a complete lack of remorse. I mean, as Sharon Tate begged for her life Susan Atkins said to her, 'I don't care about you or your baby. You're going to die.'

After the five brutal murders on the night of August 9th of 1969, this was just in many ways a beginning for the Family. Now they have really embarked on their plan for Helter Skelter. And by the way, this was a plan that just didn't hatch overnight. This was a plan that developed over time. Prior to the Tate murder -- the Tate-LaBianca murders -- they actually planned -- when I say that, I'm referring to the Family members -- actually planned how they were going to sneak up on unsuspecting houses. They went on these missions that they called creepy crawly missions where they would actually go into neighborhoods, they would leave little remnants in trees, they would knock on doors, they would see if they could sneak into houses. This was all planning and preparation for the murders that were to start Helter Skelter.

The LaBiancas had just returned home the following evening from a trip. Charles Manson, along with a number of his crime partners, went to the residence, and prior to going to that residence they actually had scouted out several other residents to kill unsuspecting victims and for various reasons they rejected some of these other locations. One was a church, and one was home, one was a residence where they saw some pictures of little children, and Charles Manson decided at that time it wasn't quite necessary yet to kill children, but it might at some point in the future. So they discarded several of these other possibilities and settled upon the house on Waverly, which was the LaBianca residence. They parked outside of the residence. Charles Manson went inside with a -- armed with a bayonet. He tied up and secured both Rosemary and Leno LaBianca. He then came back out, ordered Tex Watson to go in along with the girls. They went in and brutally slaughtered and killed Rosemary and Leno LaBianca, carving "war" in his chest, writing in blood in the residence as well, again with the same language of "piggies" and -- in an attempt to show in a copycat type of fashion that these were individuals who were black. They went so far in addition to that after leaving the residence Charles Manson had taken the wallet from the LaBiancas and the plan was to leave the wallet in a neighborhood that was primarily a black neighborhood in hopes that a black individual would find the wallet, keep the wallet, later be arrested with the wallet and of course be charged with the crime. The person that they asked to hide the wallet actually did such a good job of hiding the wallet that no one found it and later on led the police to the wallet, which was one of the key pieces of evidence as well in the case.

All of this extreme brutality -- and through all of this there was actually no remorse shown on the part of Charles Manson or any of his crime partners. They casually discarded clothing -- they burned clothing. After the LaBiancas were murdered they ate cheese and chocolate -- and drank chocolate milk from the refrigerator of the LaBiancas as they lay dying in their living room. They went back, had bonfires, burned clothing. They eagerly watched the news accounts of the Tate murders the night before and that further served to inspire them to commit the LaBianca murders.

After these seven -- after these eight murders there was a ranch hand at the Spahn Ranch by the name of Donald, also known by the nickname Shorty, Shea. The Family was concerned that Shorty Shea might inform on them, tell the police that they were involved in some crimes. They also were not happy with Charlie -- excuse me, with Shorty Shea because his -- because he was dating a -- his wife was black at the time and being as racist as Charles Manson and his group were, they didn't approve of that. But it's believed that the primary reason for killing Mr. Shea was to prevent him from revealing any information to the police regarding the Tate-LaBianca murders or other crimes that the Family was involved in because they were involved in numerous auto thefts as well and other types of drug sales and drug activity.

All of this shows an extreme lack of any concern for human safety, and the fact that Charles Manson would be the leader of this crime family and participate, encourage and help plan these brutal crimes is borne out in the psychological evaluation. Throughout his prison history each of the psychological evaluations have all been negative. The most recent one that was just read by the Deputy Commissioner Lawin indicates that his risk for future violence is extremely high. He shows in the high range of psycho -- he shows as a high range psychopath, and there's absolutely no display of remorse or empathy on his part. He has no parole plans. He has done zero programming in prison in terms of self-help or attempt to obtain a vocation. His institutional behavior is absolutely outrageous -- 99 115s, classification score in the 500s. This is a man who has been institutionalized. Prison really is his home and, but for the appellate courts with respect to the death penalty, he would be on Death Row today or possibly have been executed. But in any event, he remains a danger to society and a very extreme danger to society, and I would ask this Panel to find him unsuitable for parole and to make it a five-year denial. Thank you.

PRESIDING COMMISSIONER BIGGERS: Thank you, Mr. Sequeira. At this point we have the victim's next of kin, Ms. Tate, who is here with us today. And Ms. Tate, I'm going to ask you to give us an impact statement, please, as to Mr. Manson.

MS. TATE: First of all, I would like it to go on the record that I disagree with some of the things read in the Central File. I believe that Mr. Manson has one very prolific talent and that talent is to pick sociopaths. That is the same reason in which he should never be granted any kind of a release. There are still people that are influenced by him. They grow in numbers every day via the Internet, and in regards to that, any one of these people being released poses a great public safety issue.

I do also agree that Mr. Manson considers incarceration his comfort spot. I'm very sorry that once again he has chosen not to come into this room to face me. Perhaps again on the next hearing he'll come in and hear what I have to say. In regards to that, I really don't have anything else to add that hasn't been said.

This circumstances -- these events devastated our family. I am the only living Tate left. The stress with the grief has taken one by one all my family members. It's a bit like a stone in a still pond; the ripples are many and great, too far-reaching for me to sit here and explain to you. I don't believe that there's any difference between Mr. Manson and the rest of his family members that actually executed and decided on the severity and the extreme ugliness and the violence of the crimes. Therefore, I ask the Board to deny him five years.

PRESIDING COMMISSIONER BIGGERS: All right. Thank you very much. At this point we will go into deliberations and we must clear the room.

DEPUTY COMMISSIONER LAWIN: We're back on record.

PRESIDING COMMISSIONER BIGGERS: Okay. Let the record reflect that everyone that was in the room prior to us going into deliberations are now back in the room. In the matter of Mr. Charles Manson, CDC Number B-33920, the Panel has reviewed all the information received from the public and relied on the following circumstances in concluding that the prisoner is not suitable for parole and would pose an unreasonable risk of danger to society or threat to public safety if released from prison. The Panel looked at the commitment offense. We feel that it was carried out in a vicious, cruel, brutal and calculated manner where multiple victims were attacked and murdered. There were nine murders total. These innocent victims were -- bodies were mutilated, stabbed multiple times, which indicated that these offenses were carried out in a manner that demonstrated callous disregard not only for human life but also for human suffering. Mr. Manson has given various versions for the reasons that these crimes occurred. All of them have been inexplicable and he is not here today to assist us in determining which version is correct. The bottom line is that Mr. Manson and his crime partners murdered nine innocent individuals.

The inmate has had an unstable social history. He was born out of wedlock and has never seen his natural father. Shortly after his birth his mother was sent to prison for assault and robbery. He lived with his maternal grandmother and his aunt for a short period of time and he regained his mother -- returned to his mother upon her release from prison. He's lived in various foster homes until he was made a ward of the court in 1947, and he was also placed in a school for boys in Indiana. The rest of his juvenile life was spent in various reformatories and boys' schools in Pennsylvania and Indiana. He dropped out of school at age nine in the third grade. Was married in 1954 and the marriage ended in divorce in 1956. He has one son, which the inmate has indicated he has not seen since the divorce. He's also admitted that he has used LSD, amphetamines and barbiturates, and as far as the records can determine, he has continually denied that he used alcohol. His prior juvenile history included being absent without leave from the school -- from the boys' school that he was sent to and he was placed in the Indiana State Reformatory where he went AWOL again and with two other boys and they stole a car, crossed a state line, which was a violation of the Dyer Act, and ended up getting confined to the Washington National Training School until he was age 21. He then went into federal custody, a federal reformatory in Virginia and Ohio.

He definitely had an escalating pattern of criminal conduct dating back to his early age when, as I mentioned earlier, he stole a car. As an adult he was convicted of forgery, mail theft, interfering with officers, reproducing driver's licenses, and last but not least, the commitment offenses that we are here -- that he's incarcerated for here at Corcoran. Those arrests clearly indicate that this inmate has failed to profit from society's previous attempts to correct his criminality.

On his institutional behavior, he has programmed very little. He has failed to follow the recommendations of the previous Panel. He has not upgraded himself educationally, vocationally, and he's also failed to participate in any self-help program, and he has continued to display negative behavior by receiving 12 115 disciplinary reports since his last hearing. Those violations are as follows: behavior that could lead to violence, destruction of personal property, battery on a peace officer, two counts, destruction of state property, possession of a deadly weapon, disrespecting staff, illegal business dealings, disobedience with potential for violence, refusing to obey orders, grooming standards, and resisting a peace officer in the performance of his duties. His classification score is 523, and it was said that it did drop down two points since his hearing in 2002 when it was up at 525.

The psychological evaluation that was done by Dr. T. George on March the 19th, 2007, although some might call it inconclusive since the inmate refused to participate in the interview, the doctor was able to review the record and he determined with the tools that he used that the inmate diagnostic impression from the records review only that he had an antisocial personality disorder. He also utilized various tools that the clinicians use and they determined that the inmate posed a high likelihood to become involved in a violent offense if released to the free community.

Mr. Manson has offered no parole plans, no employment plans, and from the record we can -- we have determined that he has no marketable skills.

On the 3042 notices, we note that the assistant district attorney of Los Angeles County as well as the Los Angeles Police Department were both opposing a finding of parole suitability.

We'd like to also go on record to state that we feel that Mr. Manson should be attending these hearings, these suitability hearings, in order for the Panel to be able to discuss and clarify any discrepancies that may be in his record, that he constantly said that this or that is not here, and we could also question him on some of the various conflicting versions that he's given as relationship to the crimes.

The Panel also makes the following finding; that the inmate needs to face, discuss and understand the causative factors that led him to commit these crimes, and secondarily, in view of his history and his continued negative behavior and his lack of program participation, there is no indication that this inmate would behave differently if paroled.

In a separate decision the hearing Panel found that the inmate has been convicted of First Degree Murder. It's not reasonable to expect that parole will be granted at a hearing during the next five years. The prisoner was the mastermind, as far as we can determine, in the murder of nine innocent individuals. The -- in reference to Count One through Five, those murders occurred on or about August 9th, 1969, at the Polanski residence located at 10050 Cielo Drive. As to Count Six through Seven, those refer to the murders of Leno LaBianca and his wife Rosemary. And on Count Eight, the conspiracy to commit murder. The -- as stated earlier, there were multiple victims were attacked and killed, which also demonstrated a -- they were done in a dispassionate and calculated manner. The victim was abused and in some cases mutilated. Each of these murders indicated a callous disregard for human suffering and human life.

We also looked at the prisoner's continually being involved with serious disciplinaries since his last hearing. His latest one was August the 2nd, 2006 for behavior that could lead to violence with a total of 12 since his last hearing. The Panel also feels that the inmate has not completely -- has not completed any necessary program which is essential to his adjustment, and he's going to need some additional time to gain such program. He has failed to participate in any self-help program. He has failed to upgrade himself both educationally and vocationally, and until that is done we feel that he needs a longer period of observation or evaluation that's going to be required before any Board can consider finding him suitable.

We'd like to recommend that he become and remain disciplinary-free, that he work towards reducing his custody level so that program opportunities will become more available -- it's currently at 523 -- that he upgrades himself vocationally and educationally, that he participate in self-help programs as well as therapy, that he cooperate with the clinicians in the completion of a clinical evaluation, and as I stated earlier, he had failed to do that prior to this hearing. And last but not least, we want to recommend to him strongly that he attend his next scheduled hearing to clarify any records -- anything that is in the record that needs to be clarified. Do you have any comments, ma'am?

DEPUTY COMMISSIONER LAWIN: No, I don't. Thank you.

PRESIDING COMMISSIONER BIGGERS: All right. That concludes the hearing. The time is now 3:20. Thanks to everyone.