Manson ‘not so violent’

Press, 27 July 1976, Page 9

Manson ‘not so violent’

NZPA-Reuter Vacaville, (California). Officials at the California Medical Facility say the convicted mass killer, Charles Manson, does not seem as dangerous as his public image indicates, the “Vacaville Reporter” said in a copyrighted story yesterday. The newspaper quoted Superintendent Lawrence Clanon as saying, “Other members of the Manson family may be the ones with the larger capacity for leadership and planning for violence.” As an example, he said Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme’s assassination attempt on President Ford last year in Sacramento hau apparently taken place without Manson’s leadership. Superintendent Clanon also told the newspaper that there was no evidence that Manson had been a leader in other prisons. “We haven’t reached any conclusions, but my over-all impression is that he is not as frightening or potentially damaging in this environment as he’s seen as being,” the superintendent told the newspaper in Vacaville, near Sacramento. Manson will become eligible for a parole hearing in 1978, seven years after his imprisonment for the ritualistic killing of the actress Sharon Tate, “But nobody’s talking about letting him go,” Superintendent Clanon said.