Manson follower Leslie Van Houten loses another appeal for freedom

A parole board Tuesday rejected an appeal by Leslie Van Houten to be released from prison after spending decades behind bars for her role in the infamous Charles 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.

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 an accomplice stabbed her 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 killers.

-- Andrew Blankstein

Photo: 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

[calsnarkguy]

Thank you Jerry Brown for Rose Bird court that spared these animals the gas chamber.

[barry]

Overcrowded jails. A cost of probably $50,000 a year. Why keep her in a cage that could be used to house a real threat. Does someone really see her as a real problem?

[sheila gates]

i dont understand why she cant get parol everyone but charles manson deserves a second chance. is she a bad prisioner does she have a lot on her prison someone needs to investigate futher

[DR]

Thank god...I was only a baby when these horrible murders where commited...we lived down the street...my mother said she pulled me from my playpin as the police all showed up for this....horrible....may god forgive them for there sins...and may they stay imprisoned and die lonely...

[kian]

Mr. Kay, Thank you for your dedication to your profession and your sense of responsibility to society at large. Thank you parole board. Thank you justice system. Thank you prosecutors for your hard work and for protecting law abiding citizens. (And thank you Arnold for denying manson follower Bruce Davis!) It's good to be an American/Californian. Leslie Van Houten out on the streets? No thank you. No thank you.

[GillenH2O]

If only Las Vegas made book on Manson family member's chances of successfully being parolled...I'd be a rich man by now. Add this to the categories of DEATH and TAXES as an absolute given.

[Eve]

She did us all a favor by demanding her "right" to not be videotaped at the hearing.

Don't worry folks, the loser will be back in 3 years begging for her freedom again. Wasting more tax dollars of a society that that she has NEVER contributed to in a positive way. Amazing isn't it? How does she have the audacity to ask for this??? If she were truly a changed woman, she would no longer ask for parole.

Sadly, I'll bet her victims begged for their lives too.

[Crazy Horse]

I don't care how well she's done behind bars. What she did in 1969 is such an egregious slap in the face to civilized society that she shouldn't ever get out.

Leno and Rosemary, who owned the Gateway market near the house I grew up in, are still dead. Van Houten's master's degree can't change that.

[ronnie bartolli]

bummer. she could get out and stay at my house!! haha oh no let me guess! you wouldnt want her living next door to you! whatever, shell probly never get out.

[JRW]

GREAT! Keep that murderer behind bars for the rest of her life.

[Melanie]

This woman can burn in hell.These manson people are the worse people on the face of the earth.

[Mark]

Wise choice parole board! Being a former homecoming princess, she had advantages that the rest of us never do. I mean seriously, do you know any homecoming queens or cheerleaders that don't have it easier than the average high school "nobodies"? And she threw it all away. Maybe this animal (yes, she is nothing more than an animal now) should have thought about "shame" when she walked into the LaBianca home with bad intentions all those years ago.

Enjoy the rest of your life in prison, murderer! :)

[boochiee]

She'll never get out of prison. There are to many people who clearly remember the horrible crimes that changed our city forever in a matter of days.

[Sceptic]

Should have been executed 45 years ago. Too evil to beleive.

[alan shore]

Well done parole board. Her victims will never have another chance. Hopefully she will resign herself to a life, and death, behind bars where she belongs. Her crimes were so horrendous that she should never be allowed to live outside jail. We all make choices, she made her's. This shows the justice system does work.

[Illuminati Are The 9/11 Terrorists]

How did skinny little Houton, hold down Rosemary who was heavier?

I read that Houton stole drugs from Sharon Tate and that Rosemary was a drug dealer who supplied Hollywood.

I think the CIA did the killings and that it had something to do with the Jew mafia dealing heroin in Vietnam. A new photograph reveals that the CIA murdered JFK who'd wanted to shut down the Federal Reserve Bank which is leading the Jew mafia. The central banks is the #1 war profiteer, public enemy #1.

It's all connected to the Federal Reserve Bank and the heroin trafficking Jew mafia.

[SIN DESTROYS]

If you choose to commit sin, you will have CONSEQUENCES.....Sin does not discriminate who its victims will be.....ALL people have been given the power of CHOICE to obey the Lord Jesus, or commit sin.

[Jason]

Patricia Hearst sentenced in 1976 to 35 years in prison for armed bank robbery. Serves 22 months. Sentence commuted by President Carter and full pardon given by President Clinton in 2001. Leslie Van Houten convicted for first degree murder in 1978. Sentenced 7 years to life with the possibility of parole. Denied parole 32 years later after beginning her sentence. The evidence at Van Houten's trial clearly indicated that the stab wounds Mrs. Labianca had received prior to Van Houten's participation meant that her death was already an absolute certainty. Parole doesn't mean freedom. Just goes to show that in America justice isn't blind and whoever has money, power and political influence has all the advantages.

[cigarbat]

I think they should ask the surviving relatives if she should be let out.

[Gordon Kruger]

I The people murdered hadn't been famous this lady would have probably already been paroled. Our justice system is better than most or even all but it is far from perfect. This lady could do alot of good speaking to young people so they don't become blind followers of anybody who can speak well. She is not a danger to anybody and hasn'nt been for a very long time. Our system of justice should be administered in a fair and impartial way-It is not. Charles Manson should never get out-Not even his ashes. He believes that others are responsible for his behaviour since he got an extremely poor upbringing. We, obviously, are all responsible for the choices we make in this life and will be judged accordingly in this life and the next.

[JSA26]

Thank you Mr. Kay!

These crimes are heinous as any committed since. All these murders should be kept behind bars for the safety of society.

[mdina]

I was 19, the same age as Van Houton when she participated in these cruel, brutal and horrific killings. Not once in my youth did I feel the urge to join a "family" and participate in slitting the throats or cutting up another human being. I lived through the strange times that were part of my youth however there are lines of society that you just do not cross and killing or being in a position to be present in killing a person is just plain evil. Charlie was and continues to be a truly evil sociopath killer. He deserved the death penalty and so did any "family" followers that were present and knew what was to follow. The Manson massacres shook the country particularly because of the barbaric and cruel way the victims were killed while begging for their lives just because they were home that night. They received the death penalty and dodged that bullet when Ca prohibited it's use so now they are serving life sentence's. For all those against the death penalty, well this is your preferred alternative, life in prison. You can't have it both ways. How do you contain true evil if you let them out? Anyone out there want to sponsor someone like Van Houton in their home because she is rehabilitated? Life in prison is where evil belongs. I'm sure most people would never participate in a drug, sex fueled "Family hell bent on murder.

[M man]

Leslie Van Houten has paid for her past. Taken in to account she was 19 yr's old and easily misled by someone like Charles Manson. One can only wonder how many young Germans Following Hitler were led to this same sort of Facist Cause.
The Parole Board and acting district attorney know this is a political hot potatoe and will not release this women, not because she isn't ready, but because they don't want to be the ones that are accused of being soft on crime. Politics at its ugliest.
Essentially, Leslie VanHoutens life has already been taken from her. Incarceration of Leslie VanHouten at this point does no one any good. Maybe with the exception of some one who can never forgive and hate forever!

[RWhite]

Let us all remember that the purpoose of the manson family was to cause a race war , these people ( all white ) were terrorists . A simple search of the crime scene pictures and the circumstances surrounding the deaths of these INNOCENT people , should disabuse some people of sypathy for this woman. Also in is not vengance that should keep her in jail but punishment for her crimes. Read of the accomplishments of Rosemary LaBianca , she was hard working successful woman who contributed to society who also had a hard upbringing. Mourn for her and her husband and the other victims not her killer.

[Ryk]

What a joke. Many more viscious killers/offenders get parole after serving their time. She got the Death Sentence, but it was overturned, but once you are associated with Charlie, you get a 'Life Sentence' and no possibility for parole, even though others have gotten and still do get parole for acts that were worse......... Celebraty killings get better justice than you or I..... The courts have said the board could not base a refusal only on the details of the crime committed by the inmate long ago. She's being held because of her association with Charlie 41 years ago.