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I have to admit I'm surprised that Brown denied her parole, but very glad he did. Why this woman still has a lawyer and is even considered for parole is beyond me.

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LOS ANGELES — The governor of California once again denied parole Friday for Leslie Van Houten, the youngest follower of murderous cult leader Charles Manson who blamed herself at her parole hearing for letting him control her life.

Gov. Jerry Brown said in his decision that Van Houten still lays too much of the blame on Manson, who died two months ago at 83.

Brown acknowledged that Van Houten's youth at the time of the crime, her more than four decades as a model prisoner and her abuse at the hands of Manson make it worth considering her release.

"However," he wrote in his decision "these factors are outweighed by negative factors that demonstrate she remains unsuitable for parole."

The 68-year-old Van Houten is serving life for the murders of wealthy grocer Leno LaBianca and his wife, Rosemary, when Van Houten was 19. They were stabbed a day after other Manson followers killed pregnant actress Sharon Tate and four other people in Los Angeles.

Image: Charles Manson Dies
Bettmann / Bettmann Archive

Van Houten's attorney, Rich Pfeiffer, said Brown's decision shows an unprecedented and unlawful reliance on denying parole based on the circumstances of the crime, rather than the inmate's fitness.

"We're going to challenge this in court," Pfeiffer said. "I expect the courts to uphold the law and allow her to be released."

Pfeiffer added that he has "dozens of clients who have done much worse deeds than Leslie has done and they're out leading productive lives."

Van Houten has long been considered among the most likely candidates of the Manson "family" members to be paroled. But Brown, like Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger before him, has steadfastly refused to let anyone associated with Manson's killings go free.

It's the second time Brown has blocked parole for Van Houten after a state parole panel recommended that she be freed.

Brown wrote Friday that Van Houten "played a vital part in the LaBianca murders, one of the most notorious of the Manson family crimes. The devastation and loss experienced by the LaBianca family and all the victims' families continues today."

Although she said at her September parole hearing that she accepts full responsibility for her role, Van Houten "still shifted blame for her own actions onto Manson to some extent," he said.

Brown recalled Van Houten saying that she takes responsibility for "Manson being able to do what he did to all of us. I allowed it. I accept responsibility that I allowed him to conduct my life in that way."

She appeared frail at the parole hearing with her silver hair pulled back in a bun, almost unrecognizable from the young woman who pledged her allegiance to Manson.

Image: Leslie Van Houten is seen during a hearing before the California Board of Parole Hearings
Nick Ut / AP

She said at the hearing that she was devastated when her parents divorced when she was 14. Soon after, she said, she began hanging out with her school's outcast crowd and using drugs in the Los Angeles suburb of Monrovia. When she was 17, she and her boyfriend ran away to San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury District during the city's summer of love.

She was traveling up and down the California coast when acquaintances led her to Manson, who was holed up at an abandoned movie ranch on the outskirts of Los Angeles where he had recruited what he called a "family" to survive what he insisted would be a race war he would launch by committing a series of random, horrifying murders.

At her hearing, Van Houten candidly described how she joined several other members of the group in killing the LaBiancas, carving up Leno LaBianca's body and smearing the couple's blood on the walls.

No one who took part in the Tate-LaBianca murders has been released from prison.

Manson died of natural causes on Nov. 20 at a California hospital while serving a life sentence. A man who befriended him through letters and another who purports to be his grandson are fighting in court over his body and possessions.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/u...ole-governor-n839411

Desperation met stupidity on the corner of bad luck and despair, and the democratic party was born.

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Let's see. GA says: I have to admit I'm surprised that Brown denied her parole, but very glad he did. Why this woman still has a lawyer and is even considered for parole is beyond me.

Well, GA, I gonna take a stab it's because anyone in the California system with similar convictions is eligible for parole consideration. What you should really be asking is why in a lib state like CA, the governor can overrule the parole board? It doesn't work that way in the great state of Alabammy, now does it? Oh, and why be surprised? Haven't you kept up? He overuled the board on her last attempt too.

Why she has a lawyer? Hm, I'm guessing she may be entitled under the law. Sometimes little things mean so much, don't you agree?

Given their crimes and original sentences I do not believe, or feel, any of those guilty of the Manson murders should ever receive parole but should die, as Manson did, in prison.  I do believe that people can rehabilitate themselves but some crimes, and their severity, cry out for the maximum penalty and since folks of California have decided to eliminate that original death sentence, by execution, then they should serve out their existing sentences until death frees them.  

While many claim to have found Christ and Salvation that may affect their judgment in the coming future life but as for their earthly lives they forfeited their freedom long ago when they made the horrendous choices they did.  They may have rehabilitated themselves and found new direction, while in Prison but the families and loved ones of those who were murdered the loss and pain will continue to remain and cannot be rehabilitated out and made normal again.  Thus I am not for parole for any of them.

gbrk posted:

Given their crimes and original sentences I do not believe, or feel, any of those guilty of the Manson murders should ever receive parole but should die, as Manson did, in prison.  I do believe that people can rehabilitate themselves but some crimes, and their severity, cry out for the maximum penalty and since folks of California have decided to eliminate that original death sentence, by execution, then they should serve out their existing sentences until death frees them.  

While many claim to have found Christ and Salvation that may affect their judgment in the coming future life but as for their earthly lives they forfeited their freedom long ago when they made the horrendous choices they did.  They may have rehabilitated themselves and found new direction, while in Prison but the families and loved ones of those who were murdered the loss and pain will continue to remain and cannot be rehabilitated out and made normal again.  Thus I am not for parole for any of them.

Her case is over, she had her trial, no need for parole hearings or lawyers, just do the time. She should have been executed.

GA says: Her case is over, she had her trial, no need for parole hearings or lawyers, just do the time. She should have been executed.

Now I'm going to my red phone to call Gov. Ivey to tell her you've disbanded the Alabammy parole board. No need for it. Got it. Oh, we'll need to build more prisons too. You personally funding those or do you want us to shell out the big bucks while you sit back and think of more laws you want changed? Just think, after you get our state sorted out, you can hit the road to bring your style of law to the other 49. Whew...don't envy you that job. You might want to start with pot laws. They're really a mess. Oh, and don't forget the feds. You can trash those irritating first ten amendments and really get the ball rolling. Hurry up, we're all counting on you.

Recratican posted:

GA says: Her case is over, she had her trial, no need for parole hearings or lawyers, just do the time. She should have been executed.

Now I'm going to my red phone to call Gov. Ivey to tell her you've disbanded the Alabammy parole board. No need for it. Got it. Oh, we'll need to build more prisons too. You personally funding those or do you want us to shell out the big bucks while you sit back and think of more laws you want changed? Just think, after you get our state sorted out, you can hit the road to bring your style of law to the other 49. Whew...don't envy you that job. You might want to start with pot laws. They're really a mess. Oh, and don't forget the feds. You can trash those irritating first ten amendments and really get the ball rolling. Hurry up, we're all counting on you.

I didn't take GA's reply the way you did.  I think he just feels similar to myself with regards to this specific case where the horrendous nature of the crimes, the lack of remorse, and the fact that they initially were sentenced to death.  That original sentence cannot be implemented due to changes in California's laws and capital punishment system but essentially keeping them from obtaining parole and making them die while incarcerated accomplishes the original sentence, all be it , way too late. 

On a serious note, a 19 year old in this state cannot be sentenced to death. Life without? Yes. Death? No. 

If the California case hadn't been so high profile with the Sharon Tate murder, no one would care if this woman was given parole, with the exception of her victim's family of course.

Closer to home, how many on here commented when String Bean's killer in Tennessee received parole? Van Houten is much more deserving.

I'm guilty ... I don't even know who "String Bean" is nor have I heard about his killer.  I'm sure a lot of things do go under the radar.   I'm also sure that, over the years, a lot of innocent people have been incarcerated that didn't actually do what they were accused of and also there were some people, deserving of punishment, that got away with what they did.

Recratican posted:

I try to love everyone. Even love to give birthday parties. I see yours and GA's are both April 1st. We'll have a big do. How's that? Just imagine two lovely ladies of this lil ole forum born on the same day?

I'm sure there are many more on this forum with that b'day. No thanks, I'll pass on your "big do". Try it on someone that might give a **** and might want some of that loving you offer up to monsters that slaughter people.

Last edited by antimaim
giftedamateur posted:
antimaim posted:
Recratican posted:

She'll be up again in 24 months. Brown isn't eligible for re-election, so who knows what the new guv will do? Put a lil love in your heart!

Do you have your pills? Did you forget your pills? You can love her, that can be your job.

Recratican is a troll.

Like a 80 year old male troll....?

Kraven posted:
giftedamateur posted:
antimaim posted:
Recratican posted:

She'll be up again in 24 months. Brown isn't eligible for re-election, so who knows what the new guv will do? Put a lil love in your heart!

Do you have your pills? Did you forget your pills? You can love her, that can be your job.

Recratican is a troll.

Like a 80 year old male troll....?

Maybe.

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