Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Bobby Finds Hope


Dear Relations and Friends,

I promised in my last open message to let you know if there were any developments on the parole hearing front. There have been some developments of note, and they appear to be significant, at least potentially. While I'm loath to predict what bearing they may ultimately have on my personal circumstances (we've been tricked before!), it does appear at present that the outlook is improving.

Before going into these developments, however, I want to apologize again to Joan for sending her email out in an open message, and to those of you as well who may have been confused upon receiving it. My appreciation for the kind responses that resulted notwithstanding, I regret the error and will be redoubling my efforts to insure that the privacy of persons on my mailing list will not be compromised in the future.

Now back to the parole hearing front. Please take a few minutes to review the attached article from the San Francisco Chronicle. Recapping briefly, several decades ago a misbegotten bit of tough-on-crime legislation put the California governor's office in the thankless position of having to approve each and every parole date granted to an inmate with any version of a life sentence. Needless to say, this made the parole hearing process extremely political, with the result that relatively very few prisoners with "life top" sentences have been paroled in the intervening 27 years, even in cases when the parole board had found the inmate suitable for parole.

As the article states, Gov. Jerry Brown has decided to use the governor's parole-veto option in a manner that is more in keeping with the original legislation - in only rare cases, in other words, when a genuine threat to public safety appears to be evident. Brown's track record to date bears this out. We can only surmise how much the $26 billion state budget shortfall and a federal court order to reduce the state's prison population by 40,000 inmates have influenced the stance he has taken on this issue. Not that this matters. Grace and blessings use what instruments are available.

To boot, the portion of the 2008 legislation that retroactively mandated triple the length of parole denial periods (from 1-to-5 years to 3-to-15 years) has been overturned by the California Court of Appeals. State prosecutors have appealed this decision, of course. Given the strong and persuasive language the court used in its decision to vacate the retroactive portion of the new law it seems unlikely that the state's appeal is anything but a strategy to buy some time.

Assuming that the court's ruling is affirmed by the California Supreme Court, the 5-year denial that resulted in my parole hearing last December will be modified. It seems I will soon need to begin preparing for a parole hearing likely to be scheduled to take place late next year.

The complexion of my situation appears to be changing. I attribute this to the collective power of your supportive intentions and actions on my behalf, for which I remain immensely grateful.

Peace to you all.

Bobby

12 comments:

cielodrivecom said...

I suppose the same will be true for Krenwinkel

Anonymous said...

Here is whats true for all of them...

They go nowhere

It amazes me that Bobby still hasn't let it sink in yet...

This is not a good thing for Bobby or anyone who cares about him, barbecue now everyone gets there hopes up again - crosses the fingers again- writes the letters again...

and it wouldn't make any difference in the world if a parade of hinmans came into the court-room and sung Koombaya on his behalf...

Sadie couldn't sit up straight- she was as an unreasonable risk to society...

Bruce was found suitable....

and still- he went nowhere...

They could decide to release 90% of those who got life sentences and have served a certain ammount of time...

and I know who would be in that 10% who stay...

We talk a-lot about Bugs/Watkins and who is responsible for Helter Skelter...

No definitive answer here-

But I always said Bugs saw it for what it was and ran with it for all it was worth. He either created the legend, or grew it for his own selfish reasons...

but he did his job... He sold the nightmare HUGE- and made it larger than life...

He sold it
We bought it
They keep paying for it... and maybe they should

Or- maybe that sucks, and maybe Bobby is ready, and would make a great parolee... I say at this point he would ( still not sure if he deserves it)- but believe he would make the most of it.

But I think it is apparant by now that we will never find out....

I wont debate weather or not he is a member of the family- but I have read enough of his parole hearing transcripts to know that in the eyes of the courts- he was just as much as any of them...

That is the thing that wont change- regardless of whatever policies do...

It is the M stigma in my opinion that keeps him in, and once you resign yourself to the face that he has to overcome that to be free..

you have to ask what he can ever do to be less threatening to society than Sadie was when they told her no chance to even die at home...

different case and different charges- but I argue it is the same affiliation that will end up being the bond that ultimately unites them with Tex, Bruce, Lulu, and katie as people whose association with Charlie combined with there crimes- will make it impossible for any Governor in California to ever let them out...

Anonymous said...

and not to be a complete rabbit penis to those with loved ones waiting on parole hopes :)

but I dont get the whole release all these people who have been serving long sentences to save money idea.... We should let a guy who committed murder out of his sentence because of overcrowding and cost to tax payer?

if they have been in that long- wont most of them be older and broke when they are released???

which means that we pay for a lot of them anyway through unemployment and other assistance programs to help them live and eat on the outside...

but without the safety net of having them confined...

Wonder how the risk to reward plan reads on that one?????

and I personally would rather them be overcrowding cells than the streets...

hippichick40 said...

Bobby, Bobby, Bobby. You are an immensely talented artist and musician, and, well into middle age, still hotter than hell. But, Dude, you killed a very nice guy for no good reason other than CM asked you to do it. For that, you will never get out. Sorry.

adam said...

Bobby has come clean for many years now that Charlie didn't order him to kill Hinman, he did so himself in a moment of panic.

St.Circumstance is right, none of them will ever get out. The "Manson Stigma" won't die and Bobby has been tainted with it the same as the others.

Bobby, Pat and Leslie should have been released years ago, as should have Susan.

Every Governor and Parole board is all too aware that if they release any of them the media will have their likeness on the six o'clock news declaring "These are the people who set the Manson killers free!" That is what is keeping them in. It is a political hot potato.

Anonymous said...

Bobby tries really hard on his site as well to make sure you understand that he was not a member of the Manson family, and that his crime was committed over a drug deal gone wrong...

Many of his defenders make this point as well- as if it is partly Gary's fault because he got himself caught up in a bad racket... so Bobby's murder was somehow less a crime

I think - to me- the thought of a stranger coming in my window and stabbing me to death...

is not less scary in any way- than someone I know and trust coming over and stabbing me to death...

in fact in some ways it scares me even more so...

Bobby more than any of the others- really has to be kicking himself...

I have read almost every word he has printed on his blog over and over...

He seems so very cocky to me about himself and his abilities...

I have such a hard time believing he was doing anything for anyone but himself...

but Charlie was there, and he did call him, and he took charlies chic with him, and if he wasn't working for Charlie- he had to be smart enough to realize how it would look with the rest of them involved...

Like I cant figure out what the Labiancas had to do with anything- I struggle with figuring out how such a smart guy like Bobby with so much self worth could make such a series of mistakes- starting with bringing the girls, and concluding with driving off in the stolen car...


I guess he was young and under a lot of pressure....

I just have some trouble generating any sympathy for him...

But I know he has a following who do

there are quite a few who will forgive him his mistake, and ask that he be allowed to have some small part of his life back to spend with his family....

He has a wife who has never fell asleep with her arms around him, and kids who have never thrown a Frisbee with him in the park..

there is a porch somewhere waiting for him to plant his ass on it and play his guitar for a few friends while they have a glass of wine and watch the sun set....

Maybe at this point he has paid his price and has that coming to him???

Anonymous said...

But if he does....

it SHOULD NOT be because Gary sold drugs, and it made what he did any less wrong

I could live with the young and stupid argument if it went like this:

Gary and I were friends- we went out and had a few drinks and I crashed the car on the way home. He lost his life. I was young and stupid, and it was a mistake. I paid my price and want another chance to have some kind of life.

Much harder to live with :

Gary and I were friends. I took a couple of wasted chics to his house and demanded money. When he wouldn't give me any we cut him up and beat him. Then I stabbed him ,and let him slowly bleed to death over the course of two days. Then I took his car and split. I was young and stupid. it was a mistake...

Is it just me- or is a little harder to stomach?

Gary seems to be the smartest of the bunch, and the most rational today, and would probably have the best life today if released. He is also said to be very talented, and there are certainly plenty of positive things to say on his behalf...

I dont know

Anonymous said...

Meant Bobby :)

Of course Gary is nothing today- but dead

Anonymous said...

It seems like I always go crazy over this topic :)

Bobby really does pull at every string in my psyche...

Anger
admiration
sympathy
frustration
curiosity

even Jealousy....

I hear alot about how handsome he is, and talented.

Bobby had the life that I dream about all the time. The exact reason I am so interested in the 60's and this case really- the freedom- the music, the connections, the sex, the times..

If I could transport myself back to the Haight for 2 weeks in the day- this guy had a life I would have been thrilled to get to live... The band- the harem- the times- it was all right there for him- and he threw it away...

Sigh... The Beautiful Sun

Starting with Anger he chose to flirt with the Darkness- and it looks like he got seduced, and then trapped.

sbuch113 said...

According to DeCarlo, Bobby bragged about killing Gary.

Something along the lines of,"You're a pig Gary, you got no reason to live, I'm doing society a favor by killing you."

Manson or no Manson.......Good luck explaining that to the parole board.

A.C. Fisher-Aldag said...

The explanation is that Gary put dangerous illegal drugs tainted with poison out for people to consume, which is in and of itself the intent to commit murder. Any questions?

Anonymous said...

Blah Blah Blah,
Read Bobbys last parole hearing. He says Charlie never came to Gary's house, much less slice his face with a sword. Really?? This isnt even part of the saga that is
argued about. So why does he lie about it to the parole board??