Charles Manson Follower Charles "Tex" Watson Parole Denied

[MuffyBee]

http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Manson-follower-Tex-Watson-denied-parole-2272867.php
Manson follower 'Tex' Watson denied parole
November 16, 2011

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The self-described right-hand man of cult leader Charles Manson, who was convicted of orchestrating the Tate-LaBianca slayings 42 years ago, was denied parole from a California prison Wednesday for the 14th time.

Charles "Tex" Watson, 65, was ordered to continue serving his life sentence after a hearing at Mule Creek State Prison in Ione, in the Sierra foothills 50 miles southeast of Sacramento.

A two-member panel of the California Board of Parole Hearings ruled that he cannot seek a new parole hearing for another five years, said Terry Thornton, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Four relatives of Watson's victims asked that his parole be denied for killing actress Sharon Tate, who was eight months pregnant, and four others at her Beverly Hills home on Aug. 9, 1969. The next night, he helped kill grocery owners Leno and Rosemary LaBianca.

"There's no question these were some of the most horrific crimes in California history in terms of the brutality, the multiple stab wounds, the gunshots, the large number of victims over a two-day period," Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Patrick Sequeira said. "For a group of people to just slaughter strangers in hopes of igniting a race war is extremely horrifying."
 ::snipping2::
Watson read a statement but did not answer questions from the parole officials during the nearly five-hour hearing, Sequeira said, leaving them without enough information to decide if he is ready to be released.

"Basically the prison panel found they could not measure his true remorse or his measure of understanding of what caused him to become involved in these gruesome murders," Sequeira said. "I think he lacks insight and understanding, I think he lacks true remorse. I think he has remorse for his being in prison all these years."

Sequeira said he believes Watson still is a public safety risk because "he's a man who is at the center of the Manson family. He was aware of all the crimes that all the Manson family members were involved in."
 ::snipping2::

[MuffyBee]

http://www.statesman.com/news/nation/manson-family-member-lapd-shouldnt-possess-tapes-2397586.html
Manson family member: LAPD shouldn't possess tapes
June 11, 2012

DALLAS — A Manson family member whose recorded conversations with his late attorney are part of a Texas bankruptcy proceeding says Los Angeles police should be allowed to listen to the tapes but not take possession of them.

Charles "Tex" Watson wrote in a motion filed last week that U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Brenda T. Rhoades should reconsider her ruling allowing the LAPD to obtain the eight cassette tapes. The tapes made four decades ago are of conversations between Watson and attorney Bill Boyd, whose firm is now in Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

Giving the tapes to the LAPD outright could result in media gaining access, and that would create "a public dishonor" to those "emotionally attached" to the Manson murders, Watson wrote. He prepared the motion from the California prison where he is serving a life sentence for his role in the 1969 killings of actress Sharon Tate and six others.

"I understand these are the consequences of my crime, but there should be no more victims," Watson wrote, underlining the last three words.

Watson said allowing the LAPD to listen to the tapes should be enough to answer the question, raised by LAPD chief Charlie Beck in a letter to the court, of whether Manson and his followers were responsible for other killings.

"If this be so, and it is not, the request of the LAPD can be satisfied by listening to the tapes without taking possession of them," Watson wrote. The word "not" is underlined.

A May 29 ruling by Rhoades gave the LAPD the right to obtain the tapes, made in 1971 or 1972.

Boyd, who died in 2009, represented Watson, a native of the small North Texas town of Copeville, when the Manson disciple fled to his home state after the murders.

LAPD spokesman Andrew Smith said Monday that Watson's motion hasn't changed the department's plan to send detectives to obtain the tapes after Rhoades' order becomes final Thursday.

"We hope we can take possession and continue our investigation as soon as possible," Smith said.

Court records do not indicate whether Rhoades plans a hearing on Watson's motion.
More...