One of the perhaps less vicious but inarguably still guilty members of the Manson Family, Bruce Davis, was just recommended for parole on the eve of his 70th birthday. Davis has been serving a life sentence in San Luis Obispo since 1972 for the 1969 murders of two men, Gary Hinman and Donald Shea, in separate incidents a few weeks apart. Davis was not present for the infamous murders of Sharon Tate and four others at the home she was renting with director Roman Polanski. But Davis was involved, if indirectly, with the murders of Hinman, a musician, and stuntman Shea, in the weeks that followed.

You can read about both murders here and here. Both were less plotted events than the more well known Manson murders, and had more to do with Charles Manson's rage acting out against two people who didn't like him — also, in the case of Hinman, who had let Family members stay at his place in Topanga Canyon, Manson wanted to get him to join the family and give them $20,000 he just inherited. Davis has maintained over the years that he was only a bystander in both murders, however since being denied parole the most recent time by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2010, he has been more contrite. He said in Thursday's hearing, "I've made remarkable progress in coming to terms with what I did. I want to try to make up for some of the pain and destruction I've caused."

The parole board acknowledged that Davis's crimes did happen 43 years ago, and recommended him for parole again. However the process is not over, and there is still a 120 review by the full parole board, as well as a 30-day review after that in which governor Jerry Brown can still deny his parole.

[AP/Yahoo]