Charles Manson Denied Parole After Saying He Is a 'Very Dangerous Man'

April 11, 2012 — -- Notorious killer Charles Manson was denied parole today after a California parole board noted that he recently bragged to a prison psychologist, "I am a very dangerous man."

Manson, now a gray haired 77, was denied parole for the 12th time. He is serving a life sentence for seven murders in the 1969 "Helter Skelter" killing spree in Los Angeles.

"This panel can find nothing good as far as suitability factors go," said John Peck, a member of the panel that met at Corcoran State Prison in central California for the hearing, according to a pool report from the Associated Press.

Peck read aloud some comments Manson had recently said to one of his prison psychologists.

"I'm special. I'm not like the average inmate," Peck read. "I have spent my life in prison. I have put five people in the grave. I am a very dangerous man."

"This panel agrees with that statement," Peck said.

Today could have been Manson's last chance for freedom since the California Department of Corrections set Manson's next hearing for 15 years from now. Manson would be 92 by then.

Manson, true to form, did not attend the hearing.

"He has not shown up for several of his latest hearings, since 1997," California Department of Corrections spokesman Luis Patino told ABCNews.com before the hearing began. "He told his counselor that he did not plan on attending."

Manson has been less than a model inmate. He has violated several rules in the five years since his last parole hearing, Calif. Department of Corrections spokeswoman Terry Thornton told ABCNews.com.

He has been caught in possession of a weapon, threatened a peace officer, and has been caught twice with contraband cell phones in the past three years, Thornton said.

Manson placed calls and messaged people in California, New Jersey, Florida, British Columbia, and elsewhere, Thornton said. The incidents, in 2009 and 2011, are still under investigation and Thornton could not comment on how he obtained the phones.

Those present for the hearing included a commissioner, deputy commissioner, attorneys for both sides and family members of Manson's victims.

Debra Tate, the sister of murdered actress Sharon Tate, attended the hearing, Patino said.

Attorneys from both sides were expected to give presentations and read any documents by victims' relatives or other interested parties. They also went over Manson's prison records.

The commissioners went into closed deliberations before announcing their decision. An official transcript of the proceedings is expected to be released in about a month.

Last week, the California Department of Corrections released two new photos of the now 77-year-old Manson. In the images, his beard is longer, but he still has the same intense stare as he had as a younger man.

The images were taken at the state prison in Corcoran, Calif., in June 2011. They show Manson with unruly gray hair, a scruffy beard and a now faded swastika tattoo on his forehead.

Photos of inmates are routinely taken when they are transferred to different facilities or when their appearance changes, like Manson's has.

The last photos of Manson were released three years ago and showed him with a shaved head and a shortly trimmed beard.

Manson was convicted of seven counts of first degree murder for a 1969 killing spree in Los Angeles. The killings included the fatal stabbing of five people in Tate's home, and the murders of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca.

Manson was sentenced to death when he was found guilty, but the sentence was modified in 1977 to "life in prison with the possibility of parole, after a 1972 ruling by the California Supreme Court that determined the state's death penalty statute at the time was unconstitutional," according to the California Department of Corrections.

Manson's reign of terror was detailed in the best-selling book "Helter Skelter" by former prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi.