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Charles "Tex" Watson, a convicted murderer who rose to infamy for his role in the Manson murders, has been denied parole again. This was his 17th parole hearing in the 47 years he's been incarcerated, the L.A. Times reports.Watson, now 70 years old, was originally sentenced to death. However, his sentence was commuted to life in prison in 1972 when the California Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty was unconstitutional. Watson won't be eligible for parole again for another five years.
"These were some of the most horrific crimes in California history, and we believe [Watson] continues to exhibit a lack of remorse and remains a public safety risk," L.A. County District Attorney Jackie Lacey said in a statement.
Sharon Tate's sister, Debra Tate, spoke out as well, according to CBS Los Angeles. "He’s a sociopath, and sociopaths are incapable of having insight or empathy for anything," she said. "It’s all about him. He didn’t have it then, and he doesn’t have it now."
Watson was a key figure in the Manson family who participated in two murderous rampages in 1969. On August 8, Watson and three other Manson Family members broke into the Cielo Drive home of actress Sharon Tate and director Roman Polanski. Polanksi was out of town on business, and Tate, who was eight months pregnant, had invited her friends Jay Sebring, Wojciech Frykowski and Abigail Folger to keep her company. Watson and his cohorts slaughtered all of them, as well as Steven Parent, who had been visiting the property's caretaker. The following night, Watson and five other Manson family members broke into Los Feliz home of grocers Leno and Rosemary LaBianca and killed them both. Of all of the Manson Family members, his acts were the most vicious. He personally stabbed many of the victims multiple times.
Since his imprisonment in 1971, Watson claims he has become a Christian. He founded Abounding Love Ministries and counsels his fellow inmates. Someone even married him and conceived four children with him via conjugal visits. Watson may have also submitted a request for corrections to his own Wikipedia page, among them requesting the genders of his children be removed from the page and suggestions for different citations.
It seems likely that Watson, as well as the rest of the Manson Family, will die in prison. Fellow Manson murderer Bobby Beausoleil, who was involved in the 1969 murder of Gary Hinman, was denied parole for the 18th time in October. Leslie Van Houten, who participated in the LaBianca murders, was denied parole for the 21st time in July. Though the California Parole Board had recommended her release, Governor Jerry Brown blocked it.
