Leslie Van Houten up for parole again

[lonetraveler]

Leslie Van Houten was originally, in 1971 sentenced to death, but it was overturned one year later, same as Charles Manson.

 

[lonetraveler]

Those who think that Leslie Van Houten should receive Parole, do you think that Charles Manson should have been paroled prior to his death?

 

[lonetraveler]

Charles Manson had a huge fan club. I feel that Leslie Van Houten does too.

 

[10ofRods]

I'd like to know what the family members actually think and feel before assuming their point of view on parole.

Otherwise, I think the parole board in California should review her case and make a decision. When I've gone to listen to parole hearings, sometimes family members were there and that definitely made a difference. I believe they are notified and are entitled to speak.

A Guide for Writing Victim Impact Statements - Office of Victim and Survivor Rights and Services (OVSRS)

For Life-Sentenced Adult Inmate Parole Consideration Hearings Submitting a Victim Impact Statement Any person may submit a written statement to OVSRS (vic

www.cdcr.ca.gov

People differ in their views on these matters and to assume the family feels as any one of us does strikes me as presumptuous. But if the victim family members are unanimous, she may very well be refused parole (at least the first time). Sometimes victim families run out of steam or themselves pass on. Sometimes forgiveness is important to people - there are even people whose religions ask them to practice it. And I've seen people forgive heinous murders (although it's usually because the murderer is someone they once knew and trusted - but not always). There are higher grounds for mercy and forgiveness.

So, if family members show up and say they think she's been punished enough, I think the Board should listen.

IMO.

 

[Recidivist]

I'd like to know what the family members actually think and feel before assuming their point of view on parole.

Otherwise, I think the parole board in California should review her case and make a decision. When I've gone to listen to parole hearings, sometimes family members were there and that definitely made a difference. I believe they are notified and are entitled to speak.

A Guide for Writing Victim Impact Statements - Office of Victim and Survivor Rights and Services (OVSRS)

For Life-Sentenced Adult Inmate Parole Consideration Hearings Submitting a Victim Impact Statement Any person may submit a written statement to OVSRS (vic

www.cdcr.ca.gov

People differ in their views on these matters and to assume the family feels as any one of us does strikes me as presumptuous. But if the victim family members are unanimous, she may very well be refused parole (at least the first time). Sometimes victim families run out of steam or themselves pass on. Sometimes forgiveness is important to people - there are even people whose religions ask them to practice it. And I've seen people forgive heinous murders (although it's usually because the murderer is someone they once knew and trusted - but not always). There are higher grounds for mercy and forgiveness.

So, if family members show up and say they think she's been punished enough, I think the Board should listen.

IMO.

I think family members want her to stay in prison. She was granted parole a number of times, going back to Jerry Brown. Both Brown and Newsome have blocked it each time. This time she appealed Newsom's attempt to block, and it fell back to the parole board recommendation that she be released.

She has been incarcerated a long time, and I believe the threat to the public safety by her is close to zero. Compared to others being released early, who have gone on to revictimize, and continue a life of crime, I think there is a real chance that she has been rehabilitated, It won't be easy for her trying to navigate in a world completely foreign to her. So much has changed in the 50 some years. I hope she does well.

 

[Recidivist]

Those who think that Leslie Van Houten should receive Parole, do you think that Charles Manson should have been paroled prior to his death?

I don't think he should have ever gotten out because he never felt remorse, continued to preach his radical beliefs until his end. I know someone who was in the same prison cell block with him, and he reported Manson as being an ok guy. Not sure about that personally, but I found it interesting. Ms. Van Houten has tried to better herself. She has earned degrees and helped the inmate population. Something Manson never did. It's hard to compare the two.

 

[Richard]

Leslie Van Houghton - along with her accomplices - knew exactly what she was getting into when she entered the La Bianca home that evening after the family had already gone to bed. They were not there to rob or steal, but rather to commit a most heinous murder with their bare hands. Others in Manson's gang had done exactly the same thing the night before at the home of Sharon Tate - so they all KNEW that they were going to commit premeditated first degree murder.

Leslie Van Houghton participated not only willingly but gleefully, stabbing Rosemary La Bianca over 20 times. Later in court and before the news media, she smiled, laughed, and sang about it as if it was all a big joke. She had absolutely no sympathy or empathy for her victims - not then and not now.

She was sentenced to death for that murder. That sentence was only changed to life in prison because of a Supreme Court ruling that affected all Death sentences in the country at the time - not because of any mitigating circumstances or appeals. Life in prison was what she ended up with and that is how it should stay.

Ironically, it is probably because of that life sentence that Leslie is still alive today and free to smirk about how she has managed to fool the parole board about her "rehabilitation". Although she has spent 54 years in prison, Leo and Rosemary La Bianca have been dead for all those years.

 

[StarryStarryNight]

I'd like to know what the family members actually think and feel before assuming their point of view on parole.

Otherwise, I think the parole board in California should review her case and make a decision. When I've gone to listen to parole hearings, sometimes family members were there and that definitely made a difference. I believe they are notified and are entitled to speak.

A Guide for Writing Victim Impact Statements - Office of Victim and Survivor Rights and Services (OVSRS)

For Life-Sentenced Adult Inmate Parole Consideration Hearings Submitting a Victim Impact Statement Any person may submit a written statement to OVSRS (vic

www.cdcr.ca.gov

People differ in their views on these matters and to assume the family feels as any one of us does strikes me as presumptuous. But if the victim family members are unanimous, she may very well be refused parole (at least the first time). Sometimes victim families run out of steam or themselves pass on. Sometimes forgiveness is important to people - there are even people whose religions ask them to practice it. And I've seen people forgive heinous murders (although it's usually because the murderer is someone they once knew and trusted - but not always). There are higher grounds for mercy and forgiveness.

So, if family members show up and say they think she's been punished enough, I think the Board should listen.

IMO.

This is a from the court transcript I left a link for earlier today. The victims’ families did not support her parole.


“The Board then heard statements from Sharon Tate Polanski’s sister, Debra Tate, and Mr. La Bianca’s nephew, Louis Smaldino, both of whom objected to Van Houten’s release. Tate stated, inter alia, that there was information of which the Board was unaware, specifically details about the Manson cult’s crimes that Tate had learned from attending parole hearings of other cult members, which Tate believed indicated Van Houten was “not coming clean with everything.” Tate believed Van Houten had failed to apologize for her actions except during parole hearings, and that her parole hearing testimony was inconsistent hearing to hearing. Tate claimed to have been threatened by supporters of the imprisoned Manson cult members, and believed the cult members continued to communicate with one another. Tate noted Van Houten’s past correspondence with a man convicted of a double homicide who then committed suicide (Michael Vines, see fn. 7, ante). Tate characterized Van Houten’s relationship with Vines as “romantic,” and believed it suggested Van Houten “still has questionable taste or perhaps is attracted to the same kind of person.” Apart from her statement to the Board, the record does not indicate Tate provided any additional evidence against Van Houten.
Smaldino said he had attended 15 of Van Houten’s parole hearings, and accused her of repeatedly downplaying her role by claiming she had been forced to commit the crimes, had been abused, or had only stabbed Mrs. La Bianca after Van Houten believed she was dead. He believed Van Houten was a willing participant in the killings. He described the impact of the crimes on his family, noting the emotional harm inflicted upon them, and the loss of the family grocery business after Mr. La Bianca’s murder.“

 

[Recidivist]

Leslie Van Houghton - along with her accomplices - knew exactly what she was getting into when she entered the La Bianca home that evening after the family had already gone to bed. They were not there to rob or steal, but rather to commit a most heinous murder with their bare hands. Others in Manson's gang had done exactly the same thing the night before at the home of Sharon Tate - so they all KNEW that they were going to commit premeditated first degree murder.

Leslie Van Houghton participated not only willingly but gleefully, stabbing Rosemary La Bianca over 20 times. Later in court and before the news media, she smiled, laughed, and sang about it as if it was all a big joke. She had absolutely no sympathy or empathy for her victims - not then and not now.

She was sentenced to death for that murder. That sentence was only changed to life in prison because of a Supreme Court ruling that affected all Death sentences in the country at the time - not because of any mitigating circumstances or appeals. Life in prison was what she ended up with and that is how it should stay.

Ironically, it is probably because of that life sentence that Leslie is still alive today and free to smirk about how she has managed to fool the parole board about her "rehabilitation". Although she has spent 54 years in prison, Leo and Rosemary La Bianca have been dead for all those years.

It's not just her. Her 54 years in prison is almost 3 times the 20 years currently being proposed.

A new California bill would let some of the state's worst criminals, murderers and serial rapists walk out of prison despite sentences of death or life without parole.

It would let some of the state's worst killers and rapists go free after serving 20 years.

It's part of an incremental push to empty the state's prisons, he said, which first began with opposition to the death penalty and has expanded over the past decade.

"And with California’s track record right now, these are people who are going to end up being released, who committed murders, rapes, unfathomable crimes against Californians," Gallagher added. "It’s a dangerous and completely unthinkable policy."

California bill would give convicted murderers a chance to walk free from death row or life in prison | Fox News

I don't think she smirked or fooled the board, but has demonstrated reform and remorse in her many years spent in prison.

imo

 

[texaslb218]

There are criminals for whom I have sympathy or at least, positive expectations upon "rehabilitation". LVH is not one of these for me. I don't care if she is rehabilitated or remorseful. IMO there is no way she deserves a life of freedom. I feel the same way for ALL of the Manson followers. Let her have a "peaceful", "safe", life on taxpayers dime. IMO, she deserves nothing more or better.

 

[Richard]

Recent news reports label Leslie Van Houghton as "Manson family member" or "Cult follower", when her actual title should be "Convicted First Degree Murderer" or "Maniacal Cold Blooded Killer".

On March 29, 1971, Leslie Van Houghton was convicted of murder along with other defendants. During the sentencing phase of the trial, in an apparent attempt to exonerate Manson, Van Houten testified that she had committed a killing in which he was not, in fact, involved. She told a psychiatrist of beating her adopted sister, leading him to characterize her as "a spoiled little princess" and a "psychologically loaded gun", and was adamant that Manson had no influence over her thought processes or behavior. Van Houten also told the psychiatrist that she would have gone to jail for manslaughter or assault with a deadly weapon without ever meeting Manson.

When her lawyer, attempting to show she felt remorse, asked if she felt sorrow or shame for the death of Rosemary LaBianca, Van Houten replied "sorry is only a five-letter word" and "you can't undo something that is done." In cross-examination, Van Houten aggressively implicated herself in inflicting wounds while the victim was living, and severely wounding the victim, severing her spine, which might have been fatal by itself. She vehemently denied acting on instructions from Manson, and said a court-appointed attorney who "had a lot of different ideas on how to get me off" had told her to claim Manson ordered the killings.

She later claimed to Parole Boards that she was under Manson's spell, was forced to participate, and only stabbed Rosemary La Bianca after she was dead. And of course that she is now completely rehabilitated and remorseful.

Was she lying then or now? Either way, this killer needs to stay behind bars with the others.

 

[texaslb218]

Recent news reports label Leslie Van Houghton as "Manson family member" or "Cult follower", when her actual title should be "Convicted First Degree Murderer" or "Maniacal Cold Blooded Killer".

On March 29, 1971, Leslie Van Houghton was convicted of murder along with other defendants. During the sentencing phase of the trial, in an apparent attempt to exonerate Manson, Van Houten testified that she had committed a killing in which he was not, in fact, involved. She told a psychiatrist of beating her adopted sister, leading him to characterize her as "a spoiled little princess" and a "psychologically loaded gun", and was adamant that Manson had no influence over her thought processes or behavior. Van Houten also told the psychiatrist that she would have gone to jail for manslaughter or assault with a deadly weapon without ever meeting Manson.

When her lawyer, attempting to show she felt remorse, asked if she felt sorrow or shame for the death of Rosemary LaBianca, Van Houten replied "sorry is only a five-letter word" and "you can't undo something that is done." In cross-examination, Van Houten aggressively implicated herself in inflicting wounds while the victim was living, and severely wounding the victim, severing her spine, which might have been fatal by itself. She vehemently denied acting on instructions from Manson, and said a court-appointed attorney who "had a lot of different ideas on how to get me off" had told her to claim Manson ordered the killings.

She later claimed to Parole Boards that she was under Manson's spell, was forced to participate, and only stabbed Rosemary La Bianca after she was dead. And of course that she is now completely rehabilitated and remorseful.

Was she lying then or now? Either way, this killer needs to stay behind bars with the others.

Absolutely agree. Give her nothing but what she already has---a life in prison.

 

[lonetraveler]

I don't think he should have ever gotten out because he never felt remorse, continued to preach his radical beliefs until his end. I know someone who was in the same prison cell block with him, and he reported Manson as being an ok guy. Not sure about that personally, but I found it interesting. Ms. Van Houten has tried to better herself. She has earned degrees and helped the inmate population. Something Manson never did. It's hard to compare the two.

JMO I think neither of them should be set free. Manson is dead now so mute point. The two of them were originally sentenced, rightly so, to death.

 

[arielilane]

Newsom drops fight over parole for former Manson follower Leslie Van Houten​

 

[Fryter]

She is evil.

 

[Richard]

Newsom drops fight over parole for former Manson follower Leslie Van Houten​

And she's still smirking...

 

[Jade]

.

 

[Recidivist]

And she's still smirking...

Is there a difference between smirking and smiling? Should she never break a smile for her whole life? How would that help the victims?

 

[Derph]

This is a tough one. There is so much we don't know about this. I don't for one minute believe anything regarding Helter Skelter and the false premise behind it. I do believe that prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi was just as evil a man as Manson was. There is enough shady, criminal activity in Bugliosi's background that I'm very, very hesitant to believe that the trials were held up to a standard of law that would pass the sniff test today. He used lies, hid facts, intimidated people, cheated on his wife, and ruined people's lives who had nothing to do with Manson and the Family. This was a very ambitious man who did everything in his power both legally and illegally to ensure he got guilty verdicts among other things. Dude was a creep in the biggest way.

As far as Leslie is concerned she served over 50 yrs of hard time. She renounced Manson early in her incarceration. While I'm not excusing her actions, I'm saying she has paid her debt to society. She kept her nose clean, served her time and was granted parole numerous times. There are some disturbing things in her 17 yr old background before she met Manson that led her to leave home. Her mother made her abort her baby and bury it in the back yard! That is going to mess a child up. Then she happened to cross paths with Manson, had her mind blown-up with some very, very powerful psychedelics. Some of the same psychedelics that were possibly used in the CIA's MK-Ultra experiments.

A VERY brief description of MK Ultra: MKUltra - Wikipedia

It began in 1953 and was halted in 1973. MKUltra used numerous methods to manipulate its subjects' mental states and brain functions, such as the covert administration of high doses of psychoactive drugs (especially LSD) and other chemicals without the subjects' consent, electroshocks,[5] hypnosis,[6][7] sensory deprivation, isolation, verbal and sexual abuse, and other forms of torture.

We know that Manson had participated in these experiments and hung around people who worked on that program in the Bay Area at the free medical clinic in the Haight-Ashbury district in SF. The Family visited that clinic frequently while they were living there. It is not too far of a stretch to see how Manson programed some of his followers. The topic is too long to get into here but it does provide some fuel for thought.

Then there are the Watson Tapes. The tapes that were made of Tex Watson telling his attorney Bill Boyd, that allegedly tell a very different story than the one Bugliosi spun. There are also other murders that were never brought to light. Again, allegedly. There is A LOT of mystery around those tapes and there are a lot of people who went to a ton of trouble to get them and keep them hidden from the public.

I've done a lot of studying on the whole Manson Family thru the years. So in my mind there are enough questions surrounding these events that make me question everything. I'm not so sure Leslie got a fair shake here. But for me, 53 yrs in prison is a loooong time. She fulfilled her end. I don't think she is a threat to society anymore.

Now I definitely understand where everyone who has a different opinion than mine is coming from. I get it. The LaBianca's didn't get 50 more years on this Earth so why should Leslie? I understand that.

 

[arielilane]

Leslie Van Houten, follower of cult leader Charles Manson, released from California prison

https://bit.ly/3NP5GL3

https://twitter.com/x/status/1678865581989335040

https://twitter.com/azfamily