Posted on 08/31/2007 4:29:24 PM PDT by Lizavetta
CORONA, Calif. -- Leslie Van Houten, the former Charles Manson follower convicted of taking part in a murderous rampage that terrorized Los Angeles 38 years ago, was denied parole Thursday for the 18th time.
The two-year denial issued by the parole board means Van Houten, 58, must wait until 2009 to petition again for her release. Van Houten, who is serving time at the California Institution for Women in Corona, was last denied parole in September 2006.
"We still feel she's a considerable risk to society," said Patrick Sequeira, a deputy district attorney in Los Angeles County, who attended the hearing. "She hasn't been willing to admit the extent of her participation in the crime."
A phone message left for Van Houten's attorney, Christie Webb, was not immediately returned.
Van Houten was convicted of murder and conspiracy for her role in the slayings of wealthy grocers Leno and Rosemary La Bianca.
The La Biancas were killed in August 1969, one night after Manson's followers killed actress Sharon Tate and four others, including celebrity hairdresser Jay Sebring, coffee heiress Abigail Folger, filmmaker Voityck Frykowski and Steven Parent, a friend of the Tate estate's caretaker.
Van Houten did not participate in the Tate killings, but went along on the next night when the La Biancas were slain in their home. Prosecutors have said that Van Houten had felt left out of the first night's carnage.
In past hearings, Van Houten has apologized to the victims' families, but the parole board hasn't been swayed.
Thursday's decision marks the 18th time she has lost her chance at freedom, said Bill Sessa, a spokesman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Van Houten, Manson and two other followers of the cult leader were originally sentenced to death, but their sentences were reduced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after California's death penalty was briefly suspended in the 1970s.
Good. I hope she dies in prison.
This time they gave her a two-year denial. I'm wondering what she's done, if anything, to tick off the Board of Parole Hearings.
Good.
Just because she is eligible for parole, doesn’t mean she should get it, model prisoner or not. By all rights, she should have been executed long ago.
It may be that someone new is on the parole board or is now the chairman, and he/she doesn’t have any sympathy for the murderer.
If she can’t take a joke, Ef her!
Can’t say what I would like to about her, I’d get banned.
Rule number one -- NEVER get freaky and kill rich and famous people...
You reap what you sow.
"..Van Houten found Rosemary LaBianca in a bedroom and sat with her. Van Houten put a pillowcase over Mrs. LaBianca's head and, together with Krenwinkel, tied a lamp's electrical cord around the victim's neck. Mrs. LaBianca began to panic when she heard her husband Leno, who had been tied up in the living room, screaming. Watson was stabbing him to death. Krenwinkel went to stab Mrs. LaBianca in the chest but the blade bent on LaBianca's collarbone. Van Houten fought with Rosemary, knocking the lamp from her. Van Houten called for assistance from Watson, who entered the bedroom and took charge of the situation. Van Houten exited the room and stood in the hallway, staring into an adjacent empty room. Watson stabbed Mrs. LaBianca several times and then found Van Houten, handed her the knife, and told her to participate. Though quite certain that Rosemary LaBianca was already dead, Van Houten proceeded to stab her over a dozen times..."
gOOD.
Maybe the parole board simply recognized their error from last year.
Are you aware that the victims families are notified of each of these hearings and often come in to testify against those responsible for the gruesome murders of their loved ones?
Imagine, if you will, each of the Manson family members coming up for parole each year. Imagine being reminded of this every two to three months as the whole slew of these murderer's are brought up for parole.
Sorry, model prisoner or not, let her rot.
I believe she’s gotten advanced degrees in prison and has counciled prisoners and been a model prisoner, like you say.
Her dad and mine worked together in the space industry and she was from a good family but got caught up in the wacko hippy movement of that era.
I don’t believe any of them will be parolled and hope they won’t. They all deserved the death penalty for the atrocities they were guilty of, IMO.
Hey! Charles Manson is STILL alive! He would be 73 years old. And if you didn’t know about this — he is eligible for parole in 2012. What is his chances?
Never expressing remorse may have something to do with it.
Having family members of the victims present, shooting laserguided death stares at the murderer has a tendency to sway the board.
Shame, I really think he should be allowed into the general population just so such an opportunity would present itself.
Good.
No exceptions.
I believed Karla Faye Tucker was truly converted. No matter. She paid the price.
End of sentence.
Each of us is a sinner. God will forgive. That doesn't mean that we get a do-over.
No-one who kills the rich and famous in California ever gets out of prison, unless they're rich and famous themselves -- and then they don't have to go to prison at all!
However, If you're one of the little commoners in California who actually BUYS movie tickets, they'll let your killer out in 11 years at most.
We should build monuments for them to show we accept them and are understanding of their special needs for whoreship. Maybe we could taxpayer subsidize unborn baby stabbing stations to make them feel more welcome and a part of our society.
By your post you imply the parole board had another reason to deny her parole besides the fact she participated in a cold blooded heinous murder?
Manson has been up for parole numerous times already. He routinely makes an ass of himnself in the hearing and gets shot down. Exactly as it should be for this bloody skank as well.
I say give her a parole when the people she helped kill get a parole from being dead !!!
“ones that want to parole the murderer of Police Officer Daniel Faulkner.”
Ah yes, the Hollyweird “Free Mumia” crowd.
mrs
I understand he is crazy as a looney tune.
You'd think it would be a given since they committed murder.
A long time ago, you’re right.
Last I read he was at Corcoran.
“We still feel she’s a considerable risk to society”... I’ve always thought the death penalty may not be a deterrent, but it sure as hell lowers the repeat offender stats.
The biggest risk is she is still allowed to draw a breath, spew her ‘aw sucks’ routine, and have it broadcast to the feeble minded young idiots (both in lock up and out) who buy into the whole “I was just a stupid kid drawn into charlie’s strength of personality” excuse.
She should have fried a loooong time ago with the rest of the ‘family’
What a way to spend the last years of her life.
Manson and all his cronies should have been executed.
You could write him and ask. It might just be an urban legend, but I heard that Manson tries to answer all letters written to him. His mailing address is readily available on the web.
“Rule number one — NEVER get freaky and kill rich and famous people...”
Don’t you mean “never get freaky and kill people”?
I’m sorry, I have no clue what you are talking about. Maybe if you link to some sources because it makes no sense to me...
The man is 73 YEARS OLD! I wonder when he is going to get a clue? Homicidal maniacs fell out of favor after the 60s...
Yeah, I guess 18 months for abuse of a corpse would have sufficed. /sarc
No thanks. That would be 15 minutes of my life that I will never get back...
if she'd done, what charlie told her to do... they might all STILL walking the streets. but she kept a wallet that tied them all to the murders.
“You could write him and ask. It might just be an urban legend, but I heard that Manson tries to answer all letters written to him. His mailing address is readily available on the web.”
I seem to remember a chapter in a Joseph Wambaugh novel where a character talks about the time Mason was set on fire in his sleep by his cellmate(really happened) and shortly thereafter Mason was inundated with lighters sent to his cell in the mail with a lot of them coming from the LAPD. I hope it happened.
Wesley Cook. AKA Mumia abu Jamal
Well, sure! I was being facetious but what the heck.
My point was (and I do have a point) is that you don't want to kill people who have powerful families and friends because they have a long reach to keep you in prison forever...
At this point, it would be cruel to let them out. What are these people going to do? They've been thoroughly institutionalized. They've been imprisoned their entire adult lives. The world has passed them by.
What is Van Houten going to do upon release? She has no marketable skills. She's too old to start a family. She knows nothing of the modern world. Is she going to go get a job at Walmart? Rent an apartment? Buy a car? Nope. These folks wouldn't be able to function as free people. They wouldn't know what to do.
Sadly, though, thanks to the ongoing fascination with the Manson Family, they'll always enjoy a certain measure of celebrity. She'd probably be able to find benefactors who would support her in her old age.
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