A Los Angeles judge said Thursday that a man who says he's the grandson of Charles Manson and wants to be the permanent administrator of the infamous criminal's estate has until next month to comply with a court order to undergo DNA testing to prove his kinship.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Clifford Klein issued his directive to 43-year-old Jason Freeman on Aug. 30, but did not issue a deadline until Thursday, when he said it had to be done by Jan. 10.
Former Manson penpal Michael Channels, who has filed a competing petition to be permanent administrator of the estate, had asked for the DNA test of Freeman. Channels' attorney, David Baldwin, told the court Thursday that Freeman had not yet taken the test.
In his court papers, Channels said Manson's 2002 will, filed in Kern County in November 2017, names him as the executor of Manson's estate.
Alan Davis, an attorney for Dale Kiken, a lawyer and current temporary special administrator of the Manson estate, said his client told him Freeman is considering various options, including an appeal of Klein's order. Davis said he personally has no way of getting in contact with Freeman to find out what he intends to do.
Kiken is tasked with recovering property, on behalf of Freeman, that Manson left behind in prison when he died at age 83 on Nov. 19, 2017, at Bakersfield Mercy Hospital of heart failure triggered by colon cancer that had spread to other parts of his body.
Freeman previously told the judge that he would not voluntarily agree to DNA testing, but would obey a court order to do so.
In another development today, the judge agreed with Davis that the process of bringing the competing petitions to trial should start by having a trial-setting conference on March 12. Klein asked for a list of witnesses and the length of time they are expected to testify.
Freeman won a court victory of his own when a Kern County commissioner ruled in March 2018 that he was entitled to Manson's remains. Freeman and Kiken maintain that the Manson will Channels alleges is authentic is actually a forgery.
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Davis said the Kern County order established that Freeman was Manson's grandson. He also said that in February 1986, an Ohio judge found that Freeman was the son of Charles Manson Jr., who committed suicide in June 1993.
