Once characterized by prosecutors as a top lieutenant to Charles Manson, former Roane County resident Bruce Davis continues to serve a life sentence.
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Once characterized by prosecutors as a top lieutenant to Charles Manson, former Roane County resident Bruce Davis continues to serve a life sentence in a California prison for his part in two killings orchestrated by the murderous cult leader.
Davis, a 1961 graduate of Roane County High School and a University of Tennessee dropout, has been granted parole five times since 2010 only to see each decision reversed by a California governor.
Mostly recently, Gov. Jerry Brown overturned a decision by parole board members to release Davis, now 75, in June 2017.
Davis was not involved in the notorious Sharon Tate-LaBianca killings, but was convicted with Manson and fellow Family member Steve « Clem » Grogan in the 1969 murders of Gary Hinman and Donald « Shortly » Shea.
Davis, who was sentenced in 1972, long-maintained he was a bystander in the killings. In recent years, however, he has acknowledged his role as « a willing and equal participant. »
« My role was as destructive as any of the others, » he said in a 2010 written statement to the parole board. « That admission gave me a different, more personal sense of responsibility for the murders, and brought me to terms with the personal influence for evil I had been, and the senseless murders I committed. »
Grogan was released many years ago after he agreed to lead authorities to where the bodies were buried on a remote movie ranch in the San Fernando Valley, which the family turned into a compound.
Manson died of natural causes Sunday at age 83.
Davis became a born-again Christian in prison and ministered to other inmates, married a woman he met through the prison ministry, and has a grown daughter. The couple now is divorced. Davis also earned a doctorate in philosophy of religion.
He is tentatively set for his next parole suitability hearing in August 2018.
