Robert “Bobby” Beausoleil, a former associate of Charles Manson convicted in the 1969 killing of musician Gary Hinman, has been denied parole again and will not get another shot at release for three years. The latest ruling keeps one of the most notorious case files from the Manson era very much alive in California’s justice system.
Panel denies parole
According to the Los Angeles Daily News, a two-member parole panel refused Beausoleil’s request for release at a hearing on Tuesday, citing concern over how he would handle the lasting notoriety of the crime. Commissioners set his next suitability hearing three years out, effectively shelving his bid for freedom until then.
Parole timeline and reviews
The Board of Parole Hearings’ July calendar lists Beausoleil’s “subsequent suitability” review at the California Medical Facility on July 14, with the hearing type and location shown by the board’s schedule at CDCR. A parole panel had recommended him for parole in January 2025, a grant that was later reported by Spectrum News. Earlier waves of parole activity for Beausoleil going back to 2019 have been tracked by the Los Angeles Times.
The crime and sentence
Beausoleil was convicted in the July 1969 stabbing death of Gary Hinman at a Topanga Canyon residence, as described in trial and appellate records from the Manson prosecutions. Case materials hosted by Justia outline Hinman’s injuries and the evidence tying Beausoleil to the scene. He was initially sentenced to death, but that and other pre-1972 capital sentences were later commuted when courts and lawmakers reworked California’s death penalty system. The Death Penalty Information Center summarizes the legal changes that led to those commutations.
Governor's review and legal context
Under California law, when a parole panel recommends release in a murder case, the governor has the power to review and overturn that decision, a power Gov. Gavin Newsom has not been shy about using in recent years. In an executive report reversing the board’s January 2025 recommendation for Beausoleil, Newsom wrote that the record, “considered as a whole,” showed Beausoleil “currently poses an unreasonable danger to society,” and he reversed the grant. The full rationale, including the May 2, 2025 decision date, appears in the annual parole report published by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Beausoleil’s latest denial lands amid a decades-long, emotionally charged debate over parole for members of the Manson “family,” many of whom have watched parole wins vanish under executive review or at subsequent hearings. The Los Angeles Times has documented several of those high-profile decisions. For Beausoleil, the panel’s move this week means he will not be eligible for another suitability hearing for three years, according to the Los Angeles Daily News.
