Leslie van Houten, a Manson follower, has spent 53 of her 72 years behind bars. Is it enough?
Van Houten participated in the home invasion and brutal stabbing murders of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca in 1969. She went inside. She wielded a knife, and drew blood.
That was about a week before her 20th birthday. Old enough to be responsible for her actions, she was sentenced to death. California’s death penalty law in effect at the time was overturned and she ultimately was resentenced to 7 years to life.
Prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi, author of Helter Skelter, the book account of the Tate-LaBianca murders, thought she’d get out after 15-20 years.
None of the Tate-LaBianca murderers have been paroled. Manson and Susan Atkins died in prison. The others, including Van Houten, are still incarcerated.
California’s parole board has again recommended releasing her, for the fifth time in the last 5 years, but governors Brown and Newsom vetoed the prior approvals. So, chances are, she won’t get out this time, either. You might ask, why should she? The LaBiancas will never be released from their graves.
If you read the accounts of the murders, you’ll realize this woman was really messed up back then. Half a century in prison, and the mellowing effects of age, may have changed her. Those are factors a parole board considers, but are they beside the point? Brown and Newsom, in denying parole to the Manson murderers, focused on what they did. Are some crimes so heinous the perpetrators should be punished for the rest of their lives?
Plenty of victim advocates would say so. One of those was Doris Tate, mother of victim Sharon Tate, who until she died campaigned against parole for any of the Manson killers, and other Tate family members continued to attend the parole hearings and oppose parole (details here).
Van Houten has long been considered the most rehabilitated, and therefore likeliest to be released, of the surviving Manson killers. Will this time be the charm? Newsom is still governor, has twice before denied her parole, and is there anything this time that would change his mind?
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