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 appealed a judge's order that he undergo DNA testing to prove his kinship.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Clifford Klein signed an order Nov. 22 directing that 44-year-old Jason Freeman provide a DNA sample. Then, on Dec. 5, the judge issued an order saying it had to be done by Jan. 10, but Freeman filed an appeal a day earlier.
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 during the Dec. 5 hearing that Freeman had not yet taken the test, prompting the judge to set the Jan. 10 deadline.
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.
Attorney Dale Kiken is the current temporary special administrator of the Manson estate. He has been tasked with recovering property, on behalf of Freeman, that Manson left behind in prison when he died at age 83 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.
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In March 2018, a Kern County commissioner ruled that Freeman was entitled to Manson's remains. Freeman and Kiken are challenging the validity of the Manson will that Channels alleges is authentic, calling it a forgery.
Kiken's lawyer, Alan Davis, said previously that 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.
