http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-09-07/charles-manson-follower-granted-parole/8880788Leslie Van Houten was jailed more than 40 years ago.
Leslie Van Houten, the youngest of Charles Mason's murderous followers, has been granted parole by a California board.
Van Houten was 19 when she killed for Manson during a series of murders that terrorised Los Angeles in the summer of 1969.
Now 68, she appeared before a parole panel for the 21st time on Wednesday (local time).
The decision now goes through a process of review in which Governor Jerry Brown may uphold, reverse or modify the decision. He could also send the matter to the full Board of Parole Hearings, or take no action, in which case the parole decision would stand.
A similar panel at the California Institution for Women in Chino, where Van Houten is incarcerated, granted her parole last year but was overruled by the Mr Brown.
He said she had failed to adequately explain how a model teenager from a privileged family could have turned into a ruthless killer.
Manson's ragtag band of followers killed seven people, including pregnant actress Sharon Tate.
Van Houten did not take part in the first night's killings of Tate and four others, but on the second night she helped kill grocer Leno LaBianca and his wife Rosemary.
At her parole hearing last year, Van Houten said she helped hold down Ms Bianca while another Manson follower stabbed her repeatedly.
She then took up a knife herself and added more than a dozen stab wounds.
"I don't let myself off the hook. I don't find parts in any of this that makes me feel the slightest bit good about myself," she said.
However, members of the Tate and La Bianca families have argued repeatedly against granting parole to her or any other Manson follower who took part in the killings.
None has been freed, and one, Susan Atkins, died in prison in 2009.
Manson, now 82, remains behind bars.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom has reversed parole for Charles Manson follower Leslie Van Houten, marking the fourth time a governor has blocked her release.
A California panel recommended parole in July for Van Houten, who has spent nearly five decades in prison. Newsom reversed her release once previously and his predecessor, Jerry Brown, blocked it twice.
Van Houten’s attorney, Rich Pfeiffer, said they will appeal Newsom’s decision.
“This reversal will demonstrate to the courts that there is no way Newsom will let her out,” Pfeiffer said. “So they have to enforce the law or it will never be enforced.”
Van Houten is serving a life sentence for helping Manson and others kill Los Angeles grocer Leno LaBianca and his wife, Rosemary, in August 1969. Van Houten was 19 when she and other cult members fatally stabbed the LaBiancas and smeared the couple’s blood on the walls.
She's been in prison 50 years. She's been recommended for parole four times. She isn't dangerous. She didn't even actually kill anyone. Time to let her out.
A life sentence should mean just that.
The promise the perp will die in prison.
The only two variables should be live it out till you die, or opt for execution.
Parole should never be on the table.
A California parole board again recommended Tuesday that Charles Manson follower Leslie Van Houten be released from prison.
It’s the fifth time officials advocated for the release of Van Houten, 72, who is serving a life sentence for helping cult members murder Leno LaBianca and his wife, Rosemary, with forks and knives in 1969. Their prior recommendations were rejected by two governors.
Van Houten was 19 when the LaBiancas were randomly slain by the Manson family, who smeared “Death to pigs” in their blood on the walls of their Los Angeles homes.
The murders came a day after the cult — without Van Houten — killed pregnant actress Sharon Tate and four others.
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — The California Supreme Court has denied a potential bid for freedom by Charles Manson follower Leslie Van Houten following Gov. Gavin Newsom’s rejection of her parole.
The court on Wednesday refused to hear Van Houten’s appeal of a lower court ruling last December that denied her petition for a review.
That petition challenged what it termed a denial of due process by Newsom in reversing a parole board recommendation. It also said Newsom had refused to provide documents indicating when the board referred the case to him and argued that there was a “strong possibility” that he exceeded a 30-day time limit for review.
[....]
Since 2016, parole boards have recommended five times that Van Houten be freed from prison. Then-Gov. Jerry Brown and Newsom have blocked her parole four times. The fifth recommendation came last November and remains under procedural review.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday blocked parole for Charles Manson follower Leslie Van Houten, reversing a panel’s recommendation that she be freed after spending a half-century in prison.
Van Houten, 72, “currently poses an unreasonable danger to society if released from prison at this time,” Newsom said in his parole review. It was the fifth time that a California governor has rejected her release.
Her attorney, Rich Pfeiffer, disputed that view and said the decision will be appealed in court. He accused Newsom of rejecting parole because he is worried about “his political future” and noted that Van Houten has a spotless prison disciplinary record.
“We’re not fighting (over) Leslie being a good person. She’s proven that through her actions for half a century,” he said.
In his rejection letter, Newsom noted that Van Housen had undergone therapy, earned educational degrees and taken self-help classes in prison and had shown “increased maturity and rehabilitation.”
But Van Houten also has “gaps in insight” that continue to make her a danger to society, Newsom said.
Van Houten has had 21 parole hearings since 1982. Most parole boards denied her bid for freedom. But five panels have recommended her release since 2016, saying she had expressed remorse and was no longer a threat to public safety.
Newsom rejected a recommendation made last November.
He previously reversed parole recommendations in 2019 and 2020. In February, the California Supreme Court refused to hear Van Houten’s appeal of the 2020 rejection.
Previous Gov. Jerry Brown rejected Van Houten’s parole in 2016 and 2018.
A California parole panel has recommended the release of Charles Manson follower Patricia Krenwinkel.
The panel acted Thursday, more than five decades after she and other followers of the cult leader terrorized the state.
She wrote “Helter Skelter” on a wall using the blood of one of their victims. Krenwinkel helped kill pregnant actress Sharon Tate and four other people in 1969. She helped kill grocer Leno LaBianca and his wife Rosemary the next night.
The parole recommendation for the 74-year-old will likely go to Gov. Gavin Newsom before year’s end.
He has previously rejected parole recommendations for other followers of Manson.
On May 26, 2022, Patricia Krenwinkel (CDC# W-08314), the Charles Manson cult serial killer who broke into my sister Sharon Tate's home August 9, 1969 & participated in the murders that night, was recommended for parole!!! Now, only CA Governor Gavin Newsom can reverse this unfortunate decision. Please sign, comment, & SHARE this petition to let Governor Newsom know that you oppose her release!
In addition to breaking into my sister's home, she also broke into the home of Leno & Rosemary LaBianca the following night and participated in both of their murders as well.
She personally stabbed to death Abigail Folger, as well as Leno & Rosemary LaBianca. She mutilated Leno LaBianca's body with a carving fork- carving the word "WAR" into his stomach before writing words in blood all over the home. She has admitted that was not a direct order from Charles Manson or anyone else- it was her own idea.
For years this woman laughed about the murders in court and showed absolutely no remorse at all. She admits she was not on drugs the nights of the murders & committed them to ignite a race war.
Society cannot allow this serial killer who committed such horrible, gruesome, random killings back out & I am asking for your help by letting the parole board know that you do not want to see her get released by signing this petition.
The eight victims of the Tate/LaBianca murders (which includes Sharon's unborn son) deserve justice. This woman was originally sentenced to die in the gas chamber, but her sentence was commuted to life in prison- which is where she should spend the rest of her life.
If you would like to also e-mail or write a letter to the Governor- please include Patricia Krenwinkel's name, CDC# W-08314, & state why you feel she should stay in prison by contacting:
To email, please visit: https://govapps.gov.ca.gov/gov40mail/
(Under "Chose Your Subject"- please select: "Parole-Governors Review" on the dropdown menu)
or mail letters:
Governor Gavin Newsom
1021 O Street, Suite 9000
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: (916) 445-2841
Fax: (916) 558-3160
Re: Patricia Krenwinkel (CDC#W-08314)- May 26, 2022 Parole Reversal
Thank you for your help if you could take a brief moment to sign this petition.
Ms. Debra Tate
(Sister of Sharon Tate)
www.noparoleformansonfamily.com
www.sharontate.net
Twitter- @debra_tate9
Facebook- @TFLegacy - for continuous updates
Any donations made to Change.org in the name of this cause for this petition are kept by Change.org to promote the petition.