Charles Manson follower Robert Beausoleil is up for parole after 45 years in prison, but officials say his hearing has been postponed due to allegations that he broke prison rules.
Beausoleil was convicted of the 1969 murder of Gary Hinman and was originally sentenced to death, but was later given a life term after California deemed the death penalty unconstitutional in 1972. He moved to an Oregon prison in the ’90s after requesting a transfer to be closer to his wife and children, but a California parole board will conduct his next hearing over the phone. A relative of Hinman’s–as well as the last surviving immediate relative of Sharon Tate’s–will also weigh in during the parole hearing.
Robert Beausoleil was in jail when Charles Manson and several of his followers committed the brutal murders of actress Sharon Tate, her unborn child, and four others in 1969, but because he joined the Manson family his name has been associated with the group ever since.
Even if the parole board grants Beausoleil leave, Governor Jerry Brown could make the decision to block it from going through, which he did with Bruce Davis last summer. Davis had been convicted in the murder of Hinman as well as the murder of Donald Shea.
Charles Manson has been making headlines since he announced last year that he’s engaged to marry a 26-year old woman. Debra Tate, Sharon Tate’s sister, has made it her mission to keep Manson in prison and spoke out against him being able to marry. She also admitted she didn’t understand why a young woman would want to wed Manson.
“I wonder how long it will take for her to figure out this is just a con. It makes me wonder what is missing in her life that she would want to marry an 80-year-old man. Is she a victim? Is she mentally deranged?” Tate said.
If Charles Manson does marry 26-year old Afton Burton, she has said she’ll fight for his exoneration.