Leslie Van Houten up for parole again

[StarryStarryNight]

The death penalty is something else that’s handed out with the fair shake of carnival games. I covered murders that were bad, as they all really are, and the DP would be a factor while just some godawful pure evil crimes wouldn’t include the DP. I know that plea deals factor but examples can easily be found and compared.

I look no further than my own state for good examples, Susan Smith, Alex Murdaugh, Todd Kohleppe. Just One of these monsters faced death and the same court handed down a death sentence just a few years after Smith. Wesley Shafer, which was later overturned.

Todd Kohlhepp.
I will never forget watching TV in the upstate that Friday night and the banner that suddenly appeared on Fox Carolina running across the screen that Kohlhepp had confessed to the Super Bike murders. I almost fell out of my chair. That is a cold cold man.

 

[branmuffin]

I am not an advocate of the death penalty either, but I still think it’s OK for her to not be paroled simply because of the uniqueness and randomness and savagery of the crimes committed.
And there certainly was public condemnation along with public fear. The celebrity of the victims contributed to that no doubt. But the killers were not convicted and sentenced in a court of law because they killed a movie star and a wealthy heiress and a famous hairdresser etc. They killed a house full of people in a random house then turned around and did it again the next night. Revelling in it. Exulting and bragging about it. “It was fun” LVH told someone.
At their trial, they are the ones who turned it into a circus. With their fawning over Manson, mocking the victims and families, with their smart@ss smirks. LVH did these things. The pain they caused was massive and real and I don’t think it’s too much to ask for her to serve her full sentence. Her victims families were given a life sentence, by her, why should she not serve the same.
Her sentence was life with the possibility of parole. It was never a given, nor should it have been.

It's not asking too much to serve her full sentence but the reality is, she has fulfilled all of the requirements for parole. You'd like to believe that someone who committed such a savage attack would be able to reflect on their own complicity and agree that life without parole is a fitting punishment. But she didn't make the rules and she has the full weight of the judicial system in her corner when it comes to ticking the boxes of personal responsibility, exhibiting remorse and becoming involved in the betterment of herself and her fellow inmates.

Over time, the justice system has changed from the physical aspects of punishment to reforming the defendant. Which is why we don't hang pickpockets or seven year old children for stealing bread anymore.

 

[StarryStarryNight]

It's not asking too much to serve her full sentence but the reality is, she has fulfilled all of the requirements for parole. You'd like to believe that someone who committed such a savage attack would be able to reflect on their own complicity and agree that life without parole is a fitting punishment. But she didn't make the rules and she has the full weight of the judicial system in her corner when it comes to ticking the boxes of personal responsibility, exhibiting remorse and becoming involved in the betterment of herself and her fellow inmates.

Over time, the justice system has changed from the physical aspects of punishment to reforming the defendant. Which is why we don't hang pickpockets or seven year old children for stealing bread anymore.

She was not guaranteed parole if she did x, y, and z. It was at the discretion of the parole board. It was their decision, I just happen to disagree with it.
If you are implying that I am somehow out of touch with current judicial realities and am advocating a return to draconian and medieval punishments you would be very very wrong. It’s kind of offensive, and I hope I am just reading it wrong.

 

[branmuffin]

She was not guaranteed parole if she did x, y, and z. It was at the discretion of the parole board. It was their decision, I just happen to disagree with it.
If you are implying that I am somehow out of touch with current judicial realities and am advocating a return to draconian and medieval punishments you would be very very wrong. It’s kind of offensive, and I hope I am just reading it wrong.

My comment wasn't directed at you. It was to show the progression of the justice system under common law. Can you imagine being hung for stealing chickens or a loaf of bread? That was a possibility 150 years ago, a far cry from medieval times. Thankfully, we've progressed.

I'm sorry you thought I was suggesting you were out of touch. If I had my druthers I'd hope Ms. VH would put herself in the shoes of the La Bianca's loved ones to understand their resistance to her release.

But it's been scientifically proven over time that the death penalty doesn't bring closure to the victim's families. And in the case of a life sentence with the possibility of parole, there are family members who forgive the defendants for their crimes. So it's interesting to think that an inmate's release depends solely on the capacity of forgiveness rather than the rule of law and the successful transformation of a killer to a penitent.

 

[mickey2942]

Maybe she could give talks to kids about the dangers of cults. And that who you hang out with can make a huge impact on your life.

 

[LinasK]

Thanks for posting this. I was just about to ask why Sharon’s sister was speaking at the parole hearing when LVH wasn’t involved in Sharon’s death. I totally forgot about the conspiracy charge involving all the deaths and murderers.
~~~~
Sharon Tate was so pretty.

LVH actively participated in the other Manson murders- The LaBiancas- the forgotten victims, so yes it's totally appropriate for Debra Tate to be there!

 

[LinasK]

Van Houten has said she helped secure a pillow over Rosemary LaBianca's head and held her down while another person stabbed her.


"And then Tex [cult member Charles "Tex" Watson] turned me around and handed me the knife," she told ABC News. "And he said, 'Do something, because Manson had told him to make sure that all of us got our hands dirty. And I stabbed Mrs. LaBianca in the lower back about 16 times." Charles Manson Follower Leslie Van Houten's Role in 1969 Killings

 

[Cool Cats]

Van Houten has said she helped secure a pillow over Rosemary LaBianca's head and held her down while another person stabbed her.


"And then Tex [cult member Charles "Tex" Watson] turned me around and handed me the knife," she told ABC News. "And he said, 'Do something, because Manson had told him to make sure that all of us got our hands dirty. And I stabbed Mrs. LaBianca in the lower back about 16 times." Charles Manson Follower Leslie Van Houten's Role in 1969 Killings

16 times?

God help us when there is not a sentence of LWOP
which all the Manson followers should have received after their death sentences were commuted.

Instead we end up with the constant spectacle (and cost of course)
of the victims and Governors and higher courts fighting parole for 7 years.

 

[LinasK]

16 times?

God help us when there is not a sentence of LWOP
which all the Manson followers should have received after their death sentences were commuted.

Instead we end up with the constant spectacle (and cost of course)
of the victims and Governors and higher courts fighting parole for 7 years.

Exactly! It's not a matter of her now being a danger to society. She received the Death Penalty for the heinousness of her crimes. She should have had to serve out her whole sentence- Life should mean life, and she should have died in prison as Susan Atkins did. I'm livid that she was released. I was around and old enough to understand about the Manson murders when they happened. I grew up in LA. I had to do my driver training in the area near the Manson ranch.

 

[texaslb218]

Her victims' families are serving LWOP with no chance relief. She certainly deserves the same. There is no coming back for any of them, LVH included. She is getting off easy and should be kept incarcerated

 

[SugarQueen]

Maybe she could give talks to kids about the dangers of cults. And that who you hang out with can make a huge impact on your life.

I wouldn’t let her talk to my goldfish!

 

[Cool Cats]

I wouldn’t let her talk to my goldfish!

Yah. No parent would go for that, in my opinion.

 

[lonetraveler]

I think that any death sentence that has been overturned should automatically be changed into Life without parole, period.

 

[LinasK]

I will never support freeing a cold bloodied murderer. The way I see it, this horrendous crime should have resulted in a sentence of death. She and Manson would have been executed by now. I really don't care how wonderful she was in prison, it's not as if she had a choice in prison. Think bad of me if you want, but some crimes totally deserve death. JMO

Yup! And that's why she and the others originally received the Death Penalty.

 

[LinasK]

Perhaps the most telling evidence against Leslie Van Houten is that she KNEW exactly what she was heading into when she and the others broke into the home of Leo and Rosemary LaBianca. She knew that they were planning to torture and savagely murder them. This is because the night before, others in her group did exactly that at the Sharon Tate home.

This was not just a fun night out and things got out of hand. That group went to the LaBianca home with the full knowledge of what they were going to do and they brought their weapons with them. She could have backed out. She could have tried to convince the others to NOT kill. She could have turned her knife on the others in an attempt to save Leo and Rosemary.

But instead, she chose to participate fully and gleefully. And afterward, she sang and laughed about it all with no sympathy or empathy for the two lives she took.

She has had 54 years in prison to think about what she did. Has she really reformed - or would she kill again? She is probably truly sorry - that she was caught.

Anyone want her as a neighbor?

She has said in interviews that she wanted to go to the LaBianca's home because she missed out on all the fun of the Tate murders.

 

[worm]

I think that any death sentence that has been overturned should automatically be changed into Life without parole, period.

It probably would be now but things were different in the past. Up until the 90s Life in my state was 20 years and then parole hearings. (This is why Susan Smith will get a shot at parole next year) Now they have the no parole option and I think it’s a minimum of 30. The Manson gang sentences were commuted to what the 70s form of Life was. Manson himself had, and made circuses of, several parole hearings over the years. He probably deserved death for putting a dark cloud over one of the greatest albums in music history.

 

[LinasK]

It also might be a good thing to remember that even though Leslie Van Houten was convicted for the LaBianca murders, a horror within itself, she did NOT participate in the Sharon Tate murders and did not know they had even occurred until the next day. I'm no fan of Leslie's but I insist on the Truth. She wasn't even present for that awful carnage.

She was present and actively participated in the LaBianca's murders. That's what she is convicted for- the case was the Tate-LaBianca murders- not the Manson murders.

 

[LinasK]

Well stated. It is a wonder why in the world a parole board would recommend turning her loose. But then that is California thinking I suppose. I am hoping that she is allowed to stay in prison and set a record for serving the longest time in history.

Don't lump me in that. Not all Californians think that way.

 

[Richard]

Well she is out of prison now. And no more news. Any conditions for her - any restrictions? Will the state of California notify her new neighbors? Will they keep track of her?

 

[LinasK]

Let her rot in the hell she has created for herself.
Opinion only.

Exactly. and I'm going to re-iterate that I'm a Californian, so I wish people wish quit bashing California, We didn't create this monster.