Charles Manson follower Bobby Beausoleil denied parole again in killing of musician Gary Hinman. Should 'family' members ever be freed?

Once again, the state Board of Parole has rejected efforts by a Charles Manson follower to be released from prison.

The latest move came Monday and involved Bobby Beausoleil, 63. According to the Associated Press: "He was arrested for the murder of musician Gary Hinman in August 1969.  Beausoleil was convicted of Hinman's murder in 1970 and sentenced to death. The sentence was commuted to life when the California Supreme Court found the death penalty unconstitutional in 1972."

The issue of whether Manson family members should ever be released from prison came up in 2008 when Susan Atkins, who was terminally ill, asked for her freedom. Officials rejected her bid, and she died in prison.

At the time, some people said the Manson murders were so horrific that the perpetrators should never be released. Do you agree? Share your views.

Photo: Charles Manson followers, from left, Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel and Leslie Van Houten return to court in 1971. Credit: Associated Press

Comments

[John]

They should all rot in prison for what they did. End of story.

[Bushel Foote]

Wait ten years and we'll see then...Bobby got sucked in and was a part of a whole mindset that was/is all screwed up...he turned away from a possible future in cinema,and turned toward a life of evil...Well Bobby...the acid's all gone,that society is all gone...and society survived all that crazy schitt from the 60's and 70's....Gary had no idea...You should have went and found a regular job instead of trying to make poor Gary a doner...it was always easier to let Charlie do your thinking for you,wasn't it?Boy,didn't YOU get the short end of it all...Sorry Bobby....Not this time.......See ya when you're 73!!!Maybe when you're 83???

[iluvla]

Let them rot! They are not fit to walk the earth with us!

[Ken M]

death penalty, altered to life in prison=life in prison.

What is hard to understand about that?

[Andy K]

Free them when the people they kill rise from the grave, they should have been executed.

[ellesdad1]

Let them rot in prison!!

[California Girl]

They should have been executed long ago. And why Tex Watson has been allowed to marry and reproduce is wrong, wrong, wrong.

[logan street]

agreed

[Bob Foster]

After what they did? You've got to be kidding! If life in prison really meant life in prison, we would have a less violent country.

[Michelle]

These people should never be released!

The victims of their acts will never have the chance to live again...therefore, they should not have the chance to be free again...They should have been executed!

[Greg]

Is this person still a danger to society? If not then they should be released. The state cannot afford to keep people in prison that are no longer a danger to society.

[Robert Eye]

Well there comes a time when prisoners, regardless of the nature of their crimes, are so infirmed or elderly it's silly to keep putting them up - isn't that fiscal responsibility? And whatever deterrence point has surely been made after over 40 years. Perhaps they can even do some small good for society in their freedom - or required to do so. But then how will they survive outside of prison if not on the public dole? Withal, their continued imprisonment or their death in the chair will not bring back their victims.

[Lloyd S.]

Manson and his followers did a bad thing the day before my birthday back in the 70s, they are all monsters, and none repeat, none of them should have ever been released. I hate for anyone to suffer but Susan Atkins was part of the family and the jury read the sentence, so they all need to stay behind bars because they may kill again, one never knows. Keep all of these animals behind bars. For them to let Squeaky Fromme out is a travesty, and she even tried to kill President Ford!

[Akuna]

Plain and simple, what they did was so very very wrong. They may no longer be a threat to society, but society is a HUGE threat to them. Same with Mark David Chapman.

[Markus]

I agree that the magnitude of the murders should constitute live. It is very unfornate that California got rid of the death penalty. California never was a place with much backbone, judicially.

[Alejandero Salazar]

And that is why we have to have a death penalty. No matter what a crime was, years later murderers will be asking to be released from prison. Question about his release should never be asked.

[TheBigPicture]

25 + years sentence = Execution

Let's start emptying our prisons with no recidivism...and 100% rehabilitation...

Save our tax dollars...

[West Valley Dave]

That's an easy question.

NO.

[mike]

i say we execute them, bring them back to life so that we can execute them again, they already got many more years of living than they deserved

[M]

Honestly, I don't think that any of his followers would be a danger to society if they were freed now. Drugs does crazy things to people. I am sure they have learned a lesson or two from what they did. BUT--I know it will be a PR nightmare if any of them WERE released. And it might be for their own protection, as well, that they haven't been freed.

[Geo]

Uhhmmmm. I read the other posts & would hope that people would use this chance to discuss the larger picture of prison terms & parole but oh well.

There are too much lacking information for Us to make a good guess whether he should be released. Is he as close to death as Susan Atkins was? How has he spent his decades in prison say VS Atkins or Tookie Williams?? The last I heard of him he & his wife were publishing a magazinge based on "Spanking" with a lean towards a young victim; course that was 15years ago.

Susan Atkins had recommendations by Police Dept.s in severals states, the DA that prosecuted the case thought she should been released & many other groups which she had diligently & quietly worked with to defuse the Manson Family cultists yet she was not paroled to spend her last week with her husband.

So unless 'beautiful Bobby' as he was once known on the streets has done much much much more then Stanley Tookie Williams of Susan Atkins to contribute to Society & to make up for their crimes - then NO!

[boil]

Charley don't surf!

[Stephanie M. Robinson]

I would have to agree that these individuals should never be released from prison in this life time or the next. Growing up in the Los Angeles area during the time that these murders were commented was traumtizing as a child. That knowing there were individuals out there that comment could such horrific murders. Needless to say our lives were altered until these indivduals were caught and even then we were in a state of shock and fear. I will never forget as long as I live the broadcast news showing the maid the screaming hysterically as the police were trying to calm her down and the telephone wires cut and all of the blood that they had written in. So in my opinion that should never be allowed to go free.

[Kgoddess]

Leave 'em locked up.

[westsidejesse]

An eye for an eye...you took a life, now must give yours in return.

Play fair now Bobby.