Charles Manson follower seeks freedom, more than 40 years after LaBianca murders

Leslie Van Houten will ask before a parole board on Tuesday to be released from prison -- four decades after being convicted in the Manson murders.

Van Houten, 60, was convicted in the 1969 killings of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca in their home in Los Feliz. She has sought parole more than a dozen times -- and has always been rejected.

Leslie Van Houten, a former homecoming princess from Monrovia, became alienated from her family as a teenager and said she was introduced to Manson by a boyfriend. She said she came to view Manson as Jesus Christ and believed in his bizarre plan to commit murders and blame African Americans in hopes of sparking a race war.

"I'm deeply ashamed of it," she told a parole board in 2002. "I take very seriously not just the murders but what made me make myself available to someone like Manson."

Van Houten has been characterized by supporters as the least culpable member of the so-called Manson family. She did not take part in the Aug. 9, 1969, killings of pregnant actress Sharon Tate and four others at Tate's rented Benedict Canyon home.

She did, however, willingly join Manson and others the following night when they invaded the LaBianca home, chosen at random. She held down Rosemary LaBianca while she was stabbed by an accomplice and, when told to "do something" by cohort Charles "Tex" Watson, she stabbed the woman about two dozen times in the back.

Los Angeles County Deputy Dist. Atty. Stephen Kay told a parole board in 2002 that such "vicious" acts make parole for Van Houten at any time unwise. Kay, who took part in four of the Manson trials, has attended all 58 parole hearings for each of the five imprisoned murderers.

-- Shelby Grad

Photos, from top: Charles Manson, then and now. Credits: Los Angeles Times / State of California.  Leslie Van Houten at her 2002 parole hearing. Credit: Los Angeles Times. From left, Patricia Krenwinkel, Susan Atkins and Leslie Van Houten enter court on Feb. 11. 1971, during the penalty phase of their trial. Credit: Associated Press

Comments

[L Sutter]

All these people who say she has served her time obviously have never had someone they loved stripped away from them by the act of another. I bet you'd be crying a different tune if it was your mother/sister/daughter/wife being murdered. She, along with all the others should have been put to death a long time ago. But we repealed the death penalty saying they feel pain right before they die. Oh really? And how do you think that person felt as she was stabbing her a dozen times. Keep her locked up! Along with all the others.

[sick of it all]

she should rot..

[Angelita]

She was sentenced to death, and a while later to life, for what she did. Not because what she was to become. We all get old and sometimes wiser. And, one way or another, we all pay for our actions in the past. Don't we?
She stabbed a woman 16 times.
There you go.

[MessiCali]

These people stating she has served her time and should be released obviously have never lost a loved one at the hands of another. I guarantee you'd be crying a different tune if it was your mother/daughter/sister/wife being brutally murdered. She, along with all the other Manson followers should have been put to death years ago. Did you know Charles Manson is STILL segregated from the general population because he is a manipulator. Who's to say she's not the same? This state repealed the death sentence stating that inmates feel pain before they die. Oh really? How do you think Rosemary felt as she was stabbing her over a dozen crimes. Lock her up and throw away the key. Better yet, commit her back to the death penalty. All of them!

[Susannah2k]

My tax dollars are well spent keeping all the Mansons in prison.

[Bob]

She brutally murdered an innocent woman who had done nothing to her. No matter how much she regrets her actions years ago, she can't give Mrs. LaBianca back her life. Our compassion should be for the victim's family, not the killer. She was sentenced to death and she should die in prison.

[Jane]

No.
You who believe she should be freed, speak as if you know her. None of us know her.
She may have been young when she opted to join this group. I was young once too but I didn't go around killing people. Did you?
Youth has nothing to do with it.
She's a psychopath. Leave her where she is.
What had you supposed she'd do if she's freed? Get a job....in California???
She will still be a menace to society.
She made her choices. She must stick it out and deal with them.

[Jeff K.]

I am firmly against the death penalty, and believe that those who commit murder should not be executed, but spend life in prison. Having said that, life in prison must mean something. Sure, after time, people will come to regret their acts, but those acts are irreversable. If she can bring Rosemary LaBianca back from the dead, then sure, let her be parolled. Short of that, she should spend her entire life in prison.

[Red]

She should stay in prison... "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth"...or might as well give her the same manner of execution she did with her victim, stab her 2 dozen times on her back!!!

[Ray]

Deport her!

[Proteus]

Hate to break it to you, Silhouette, but Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme was released from prison last year and lives near Utica, NY. Also, convicted murderer of Donald "Shorty" Shea, Steve "Clem" Grogan, was released from prison in 1986; his whereabouts are unknown.

[GillenH2O]

To Estella; Congratulations on writing the silliest post of the day so far... and that's no small feat.

[jay Helfert]

I never thought I would say this, but maybe it is time to let her go. Forty years is long enough. She has sacrificed her life for this crime, and her role in it.

[BillyJoeBob]

She's no longer a threat, it's costing tax payers tens of thousands of dollars per year to keep her in prison, and probably much more every time she gets paraded in front of the parol board. Time to kick her out, let her write a book, movie, live on the streets or whatever and prove that she's been rehabilitated after 40 years, that's what the prison system is supposed to do.

Or just put her in front of a firing squad and get it done with already.

[Dave]

Send her along with Chuck to Utah. Their five man punishment team knows how to deal with these situations.

[Shannon]

An eye for an eye...give her death

[bill]

got to stay in prison - "held [the victim] down. . . and stabbed the [victim] about two times in the back." that's a terrible and malicious crime.

[Victoria]

She should take responsibility for what she did and stop blaming Manson, her family and everyone else. She had the freedom of choice and chose to murder innocent people. She should stay in prison for life as her punishment. She's lucky she avoided the death penalty: her victims didn't have such luck.

[trivialthings]

"...The original sentence for each of these people was death. They owe their continued existence to the Supreme Court decision which resulted in the commutation of their sentences to life...."
Life in prision. Just what part of that do you libs NOT UNDERSTAND? How much "sympathy" was shown to those that were murdered?
You Citizens of the Republik of Kalifornia continually amaze the rest of the country. Time for you Commrads to realize you're part of the USA!

[Kevin FitzMaurice]

Let Leslie Van Houton have parole. She has evolved totally over the decades, and there is no longer any legitimate reason to think she presents any danger at all.

Life without parole makes us all as cruel as she once was. If she must remain in prison, we all belong there.

Those who are christians should listen to Jesus; he spent much of his time advocating and emphasizing redemption and forgiveness. Leslie has done the redemption; it is long since past time for the forgiveness.

[stacey]

A jury sentenced this woman to death. It was only by a coincidence of Californian legal history that anyone can even mention the words "parole" and "Leslie Van Houten" in the same sentence.

So what if she was "less culpable" than the other Manson Family members who went out and murdered seven other people the night before? She still did her part to make sure that the LaBiancas were killed in a heinous, torturous way, and that's enough for her to remain behind bars. Even if we can't legally respect the jury's decision to give her the death penalty, the parole board can still do the next best thing and make sure that she never gets out.

And anyone who doesn't think that a 60-year-old woman can commit a crime is someone who has an over-idealized vision of elderly people. Remember, when she went on trial in 1970, lots of people didn't think a young, pretty, 20-year-old girl could commit a murder. Making such a blanket assumption about older women is just naive.

[Katt Luscious]

It's not about whether she will kill again at her age. The fact is she was involved in the death of that couple and they have were not granted any form of parole! Their death sentence was for eternity. She needs to pay for what she did. She should have died but that decision was overturned. She should be happy she was allowed to live this long. For all your broken hearts thinking she was been rehabilitated and should be set free because "enough time has passed", what if it were your mother, your father, or YOU! Let her rot and live a miserable existence. At least she is alive, something I bet the LaBiancas wanted before she brutally murdered them with her cohorts.

[Ernst]

Tell her to shave her head and go back in the box until they carry her out in one, thats a good deal compared with what Leno and Rosemary got from her....did the crime now do the time.

[Ahhhhhhhhhhh]

I did time with her, yes rehab is for small crimes, I was released in 1986 and never returned, while at CIW I met her she is very kind. Yes she committed a sick crime yes she was sentenced to death but it was over turned. With that she did not get life without. Everyone has an opinon and each make great points. I've sat with her and talked she is very smart and knows what she did is wrong. If any manson should be set free it is her. She was wrong but by god she has paid in many ways. If any of you could speak to this lady you would see what I am talking about.

[RPJ]

I'm confused how someone who stabbed someone in the back 24 times thinks they should be able to request parole. I agree with Dist Atty Kay. This woman made a conscious decision to carry out the acts she did, and those acts carry with them a set of consequences. How can you think you're a changed person and should be able to live out your life, when you took someone else's? This is not accidental vehicular manslaughter; this is consciously taking a knife and using it against a person - a random person at that - to end their life. I'm sorry, but this woman should feel lucky that she's been able to even continue living on the taxpayers' dime.