The Wrong Crowd

When mama tells you, "Don't fall in with the wrong crowd," listen to her. Consider the case of Bruce Davis.

Bruce was born in Monroe, Louisiana in 1942, the younger of two children. His family moved to Mobil, Alabama, then to Kingston, Tennessee, where Bruce attended Roane County High School. Bruce was the Editor-in-Chief of the Annual and was an honors student, winning the Social Studies Scholastic Award. Bruce attended the University of Tennessee for about 2 years, then dropped out and moved west where he became immersed in the hippie counter culture. In the west, Davis made a living doing construction work, and, in 1967, ran into Charles Manson, Mary Brunner, Lynette Fromme, & Patricia Krenwinkel in Oregon. Manson liked having another man around, plus Charlie and Bruce had a few things in common. Like Manson, Davis was a good musician and was interested in Scientology.

From November of 1968 to April 1969, Bruce lived in London, England, working at the Scientology headquarters, after which he then returned to the states, where he rejoined the Manson family. In the family, Davis acted as a comptroller, handling all the stolen credit cards and fake ID's.

In July of 1969, Bruce was present when Manson chopped off Gary Hinman's left ear. In late August, Bruce was present at the murder of Spahn's Ranch hand Donald "Shorty" Shea, and though he had no active part in the murder, Bruce did nothing to stop it. Afterwards, the Manson family moved to the Barker Ranch in Death Valley. Bruce was arrested and charged with grand theft auto in the Barker Ranch raid held on October 12, 1969. He was eventually released due to insufficient evidence.

On November 5, 1969, Davis was present when Christopher Jesus, aka "Zero", allegedly killed himself playing Russian roulette. While the death was suspicious, police ruled it a suicide.

In April of 1970, Mary Brunner implicated Davis as being present at the Hinman murder, and Bruce immediately went into hiding. On Manson's orders, Davis turned himself in on December 2, 1970. Bruce went on trial for the murders of both Hinman and Shea, having been what the law defines as "accessory before, to, and after-the-fact" He was convicted and sentenced to Life imprisonment. Davis was briefly suspected of being the Zodiac killer (a mysterious killer that terrorized California by committing several bizarre homicides in the 60's and 70's), but was ruled out as a suspect by the FBI.

Bruce was not present at, and had no part in, the Tate-Biana murders for which the Manson Family gained notoriety; however, Bruce remained a part of the family, knowing the murders had occurred.

In prison, Bruce became a born-again Christian in 1974, and is currently incarcerated at the California Men's Colony in San Luis Obispo, California. This prison does not have secure boundaries and inmates live in dormitories. In prison, Bruce earned Certification in welding and drafting. In 1984, Bruce married a former stewardess (32 years), and they currently have a 16-year-old daughter. in 1997, he earned a Masters degree in Theology. In 2002, he received his Doctorate in Philosophy and Religion, Summa cum Laude, and is presently a candidate for his Doctorate in Engineering. Bruce teaches Bible classes for inmates, varous 12-step programs, and peer-counselling as well as classes in parenting.

Bruce was eligible for parole 28 years ago in 1980. Since that time, he has been a model inmate, having no disciplinary citations or problems of any kind. Nonetheless, when his annual review for parole has been conducted, the Board of Paroles had consistently denied it, saying Bruce is unfit to return to society, although he has repeatedly met every requirement for parole. The problem is this: Bruce was a part of the Manson family, and no Parole Board Member wants to be a part of the system which releases a Manson family member into society. The fact that Bruce actually committed no murder is of little consequence to those who must approve his release.

Bruce simply fell in with the wrong crowd. He drove Manson family members to a place where murders were committed. He did nothing to stop the murders. He has served 28 years more that most convicted murderers in California will ever spend. He is 65 years old, having been incarcerated at age 27, and he will likely remain in prison for the remainder of his life.

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Bruce graduated from the same high school I attended. He was three years older than I, so we didn't really run in exactly the same circles, but he was popular, always seemed nice, smiled most of the time, always spoke to me (a lowly underclassman), and frequently seemed to be in a hurry to get somewhere. He may have been the best-looking guy in his class and always dressed well. I would have chosen him to be the three or four people in his class Most Likely to Succeed.

No one who knew Bruce could believe that he had fallen in with Charles Manson. No one that I knew, anyway.

To me, it seems incredible that this could happen to someone who seemed as nice as Bruce, an honor student, editor-in-chief of the annual, hard worker... someone who looked like The All-American guy.

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When mama says, "Don't fall in with the wrong crowd," pay attention.