Manson Rejected in Sixth Bid for Parole

Mass killer Charles Manson’s sixth bid for parole was rejected Tuesday after he made a surprise appearance before a panel of the state Board of Prison Terms and read from a bizarre, rambling statement.

The three-member panel met privately for about 30 minutes before pronouncing Manson unsuitable for parole. His next hearing is in three years, the maximum interval permitted.

Panel chairwoman Loretta Collier cited four reasons for turning the killer down: “The cold-blooded and senseless murders” of six people, his violent childhood, his prison behavior and a psychiatric evaluation that showed he is a schizophrenic who is potentially violent.

He began reading a 20-page document to the panel, but was halted after about 15 minutes. The often unintelligible statement covered politics, religion and philosophy.

“From the world of darkness, I did loose demons and devils in the power of scorpions to torment,” he read. “I could have a parole and have no soul. I will keep my soul and have no parole.”

Asked what he would do if released, Manson replied, “I’d probably try to stop the rain forests from being cut down. I’d probably join the revolution down south somewhere and try to save my life on the planet Earth. I might go to Libya. I might go see the Ayatollah (leader of Iran). I might go to France, catch somebody in France I’m upset with.”

Manson also told the panel that he doesn’t like to read and spends much of his time in his cell making dolls.

Manson and four followers were convicted in the August, 1969, slayings of five people, including actress Sharon Tate, the pregnant wife of director Roman Polanski. The victims were hacked to death in a house in an exclusive area of Los Angeles. The next night, wealthy Leno and Rosemary LaBianca were murdered in their home across town.

Manson escaped the gas chamber when the state Supreme Court overturned the death penalty in 1972 and his sentence was changed to life in prison.

He boycotted his last parole hearing and had been expected to boycott Tuesday’s session.