Charles 'Tex' Watson: No Parole 42 Years After Manson 'Family' Killings

Charles "Tex" Watson, the former disciple of Charles Manson who once referred to himself as the cult leader's "lieutenant for killing," has been denied parole again.

A two-member panel of the California Board of Parole Hearings refused Watson's bid for parole Wednesday, during a routine annual hearing at Mule Creek State Prison in Ione, 50 miles southeast of Sacramento. The rejection marks hearing 16 ordering the former member of the Manson "family" to remain in prison.

Watson, 65, is serving a life sentence at Mule Creek for his part in the Sharon Tate-LaBianca killings 42 years ago. In 1969, Watson was convicted by a Los Angeles County court on seven counts of murder -- crimes masterminded by one-time cult leader Charles Manson.

"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 told the Associated Press.

Watson, who fathered four children behind bars with his ex-wife via conjugal visits, did not attend his last parole hearing in 2006. He received a maximum five-year denial.

According to Watson's website, aboundinglove.org, he converted to Christianity in 1975 and became an ordained minister in 1983. In 2009, Watson graduated from California Coast University with a B.S. in business management.

"His distant past is a tragedy from any point of view, but for the previous three decades, his life has testified to the awesome grace of God," reads a statement on Watson's website.

Anthony DiMaria, a nephew of victim Jay Sebring, remains unconvinced.

"They've often been portrayed as these victims of Manson, and they are killers. They're mass murderers," DiMaria told the AP.

Manson, now 77, refused to appear at his most recent parole hearing in May 2007. He will be eligible to re-apply for parole in 2012.

CHARLES MANSON PHOTOS:

Loading Slideshow

• Charles Manson

  A photo provided by the California Department of Corrections shows 77-year-old murderer Charles Manson on April 4, 2012. Manson will have an April 11, 2012, parole hearing in California. (AP Photos/California Department of Corrections)

• Charles Manson

  This handout image released by the California State Prison, Corcoran, taken on March 18, 2009, shows murderer Charles Manson.

• Charles Manson

  Beardless and shaven-headed, Charles Manson is sullen-faced as he goes into court on March 29, 1971.

• Charles "Tex" Watson

  Charles "Tex" Watson, 65, is the man who orchestrated the Tate-LaBianca slayings in 1969.

• Leslie Van Houten

  Leslie Van Houten expresses remorse in the killings of Rosemary and Leno LeBianca to members of the Board of Prison Terms during her parole hearing on June 28, 2002, at the California Institution for Women in Corona, Calif.

• Roman Polanski And Sharon Tate

  A photo taken on Jan. 20, 1968, shows filmmaker Roman Polanski and his wife, actress Sharon Tate, after their wedding at the Chelsea Register Office in London.

• Sharon Tate

  A 1969 photo of American actress Sharon Tate, wife of director Roman Polanski, who was murdered, eight months pregnant, with four other persons in the couple's mansion in Beverly Hills, Calif.

WATCH:

Comments

[Lisa Coto]

11:20 AM on 10/20/2012

Everyday women go kill their children and no one says a word about them. A holocaust is going on with the most innocent who have no voice and cannot fight back yet, its legal and perfectly acceptable to so many.They are forgiven but a man who has found Christ can not? I am not saying to let this man out of prison, no, he is where he should be. But he can find Christs love. Jesus came for the sinners ( murderers and liars and adulterers) so they can repent and spend eternity with him. Only He can judge a mans heart.

[Sherri Cronkhite]

12:27 PM on 10/19/2012

How does one have a web site when in prison??? Writing books and making money... I thought prison was a form of punishment not reward!!!

[Lisa Coto]

11:23 AM on 10/20/2012

Oh yeah, his life is sooo perfect! He took a bad situation and tried to make something positive out of it. Thats just irrepressible LOL

[Joanne Nuna]

12:21 AM on 12/21/2012

So what would you have them do? Prison is about rehabilitation not punishment. You are ingnorant.

[ruthr]

10:38 PM on 10/14/2012

I'm reading a book by a relative of Sharon Tate. According to the Tate family, Watson is just as homicidal as he ever was and uses Christianity as a way to lord it over the other prisoners.

[Angelo N Aimee Angerome]

10:37 AM on 05/11/2012

He fathered 4 kids via conjugal visits?! So disgusted

[LOVE4SALE]

06:11 PM on 04/18/2012

Isn't it wonderful that this sack of human garbage managed to find Jesus now that its convenient for him to do so. Too bad Sharon Tate and her unborn baby never got that chance.

[Lisa Coto]

11:27 AM on 10/20/2012

And neither have the millions of other unborn children gotten that chance.

[Kambriel2]

10:28 PM on 04/17/2012

Tex, give it up. You're there for the rest of your days.

[keinott]

07:57 AM on 04/13/2012

He is suppose to be dead because of his original death penalty. In that regard alone he has already been given a bigger break than he'll ever deserve. I don't believe therefore anyone will ever have a legitimate complaint about someone like him never ever getting parole . When you stop to consider that he was allowed to go on and make something of his life with a college degree, marriage, conjugal visits, his own children, and any friends he's met and made along the way, he has been given way more than any of his victims were given . The victims have never had their "deaths" overturned like Watson had his death sentence overturned ,

[arrow7]

05:10 PM on 04/11/2012

It is so hard to comprehend that he was GIVEN conjugal visits in prison!!!!! Plus a college degree.
Regardless if he has turned to Christianaty or not.....Why are taxpayers paying for this killer to breed and get a college education.......Totally wrong.......

[Wyvern Wycliffe]

05:16 PM on 04/17/2012

It is all part of Charlie's continued influence on you (yes YOU). If you even acknowledge his or Atkins' discovery of Christ, or their supposed confessions (where they continue to supplicate Charlie and continue to protect Family members who are at large and continue to obfuscate their true motives, or their attempts at showing "remorse" when they cannot even demonstrate that they understand what remorse is, and cannot even understand the magnitude of their own crimes, it's all part of the same sickness that got them where they are in the first place... and "the first place" begins long before Tex Watson and Charles Manson ever crossed paths. Watson is a psychopath with or without Manson.

[Joanne Nuna]

12:29 AM on 12/21/2012

California no longer allows Family visits ( conjugals ) for anyone convicted of murder or anyone who has a life sentence because of Tex Watson bringing it into the public light. Even though laws change at anytime and these men can be released. You treat a man like an animal you will regret what is released back into society. Most of the families of incarcerated loved ones who live in a state that have family visits has long-since known how this important tool bonds the prisoner to their family and community. It is an important part of the rehabilitation of offenders. As research has shown, a strong community support system is a vital element in the successful transition of offenders from incarceration back into the community. Arguably, the most important correctional tool to assist offenders in maintaining stable family relations is a visitation program that allows for meaningful interaction with the significant persons in their lives. Visitation privileges have been linked to increased positive behavioral adjustment while incarcerated and lower recidivism rates upon release.

[Frank Blackstone]

02:22 PM on 04/11/2012

Too Bad the Vengance and Parole boards can not look behind them and see the change and let the past somehow slip into history , The relatives showing up demanding Life and seeking there Vengance is not the way Parole was suposed to be , The Parole board is suposed to be for seeing change and having regret and giving a second chance at a life . I find it shamefull they can not see the person before them and not the views of the past stories told them .....Frank Blackstone

[sandiegoconservative]

10:29 AM on 04/12/2012

I am sure you will welcome convicted murderers into your home and life then? When can we assume you will be at your local prison to offer the next murderer a chance to live with you?

[lpatches2000]

01:10 AM on 04/17/2012

@ Frank Blackstone,
These individuals were given a second chance at a life; their death penalty was changed to life in prison! Did their victims get a second chance at a life?

[jmmgausa]

11:17 PM on 04/03/2012

The book that Susan Atkins never finished is posted on http://freesusanatkins.net. According to her these murders were committed for money for drugs. The Helter Skelter thing was how Manson got them to do his bidding but he was really just trying to get money. It's an interesting read.

[Wyvern Wycliffe]

05:26 PM on 04/17/2012

"According to her." She went to her grave with you still convinced that any word out of her mouth is the truth. She pretended to confess, while continuing to withhold anything and everything that could either contribute to our understanding of the case or her role in it, and her pretense at remorse is especially hard to take because it is abundantly clear that she never understood the concept of remorse, so failed to actually experience it, ever. She went to hell and left, at best, half-truths behind. She protected Charlie and the rest of the Family to her dying breath. The confession in her book? Where she tells "truth" it's just far enough to draw you in. That's how Charlie does it, and Tex, and the rest of them. And you buy it, and you don't think you're being manipulated.

[jmmgausa]

10:32 PM on 04/25/2012

Well I just stated facts about her unfinished book. I know what those people did.

[jadeaic]

10:17 AM on 03/21/2012

They should have gotten the death penalty - instead they got life in prison, which is exactly what it says. LIFE. Anyone, brainwashed, drugged up or not, who can brutally kill people like he did should never be able to be amongst society again. EVER.

[kelliwalters4u]

01:35 AM on 03/08/2012

What woman would want to have a child with him?????

[baileywick]

06:38 PM on 02/28/2012

Look at his photo on Wikipedia. Same look in his eyes.

[ww5022]

05:42 AM on 02/15/2012

Sorry Tex, There's no place like Ione. I'm sure Jesus will welcome you into the next life and all will be forgiven. For now, let's just keep you locked up.

[iLdoRight]

04:27 AM on 04/05/2012

Your read on the Bible is not the same as mine, I have listened to it many times all the way through and I don't think his outcome will be as you think.

[JudKast]

04:23 PM on 02/13/2012

Fascination abounds for these individuals that are mass serial killers. Each case is unique with some inter-twining elements that preclude all other people in society. I have always believed that these serial killers should not be released. It is better for them to be structured and in a confining, mundane environment to prevent their "acting out" again to occur. It is important to continue to study these individuals when they are willing to cooperate while confined to possibly help in eliminating some of the causes for them to continue to do this. Research study is important but eradication of their symtomology and perversive acts will never be witnessed. They are just too complex and determined to continue in their heinous crimes. By the power of God can they only be helped.

[ww5022]

05:51 AM on 02/15/2012

More mass killers than serial. The only manson family member who might get out is Leslie Van Houton and that won't be until she's in her 70's. Oddly enough she was only present at the Labianca murders and only stabbed Mrs Labianca after Watson and Susan Krenwinkel had already killed her. She had poor legal representation. She actually could have walked due to a techicallity during the trail. Her court appointed lawyer didn't see it and he blew it. She was granted a new trial and should have pleaeded to a lesser charge but again had poor representation. She was actually out on bail during her second trial. Imagine.

[sandiegoconservative]

10:31 AM on 04/12/2012

Squeaky Fromme (sp?) already got out. Last I heard, she was living in upstate NY somewhere?