Van Houten, who has been incarcerated for 46 years, has “developed greater maturity, independence and responsibility” and has “led a pro-social lifestyle”, Brown noted in his decision.
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Jerry Brown on Friday denied parole for Leslie Van Houten, the youngest follower of murderous cult leader Charles Manson.
The Democratic governor said Friday that Van Houten’s “inability to explain her willing participation in such horrific violence” leads him to believe she remains an unreasonable risk to society.
For a minute there, it looked as though Leslie Van Houten, one of the Manson Family’s most involved members, was actually on the road to escaping the life sentence she was serving for the murder of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca back in 1969. She stabbed Rosemary La Bianca at least 16 times. Investigators found that Rosemary had been stabbed more than 40 times, though Van Houten has repeatedly claimed to have only stabbed her after she was already dead.
In June, Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey penned a five-page letter to Brown, asking that he deny parole to the former follower because she “poses an unreasonable risk to public safety”.
Van Houten was recommended for parole by the state Board of Parole Hearings in April.
But, as Brown said in his statement, her perceived lack of remorse is reason enough to deny parole yet again.
Van Houten, 66, had been described as a model prisoner who worked with other inmates and earned a college degree. Her mother forced her to have an illegal abortion, and buried the fetus in their backyard. “I don’t find parts in any of this that makes me feel the slightest bit good about myself”, she said during the hearing.
Charles Manson had sought to plant Mrs. LaBianca’s wallet in an African-American neighborhood, so they would be blamed for the murders in order to start a race war, according to the statement of facts pertaining to Van Houten’s case. Relatives of Van Houten’s victims signed a petition opposing her release which garnered 140,000 signatures.
“These people need to remain in jail until their passing day, for justice to be served”, said Debra Tate, Sharon Tate’s sister who delivered the signatures to Brown’s office last month and has organized opposition to the release of Manson family members.
In January, the governor rejected a state parole board panel’s August 2015 finding that another former Manson follower, Bruce Davis, was suitable for release.
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Now 81, he remains in prison, as do others of his followers, including Patricia Krenwinkel and Charles Watson.
