Leslie Van Houten, Ex-Charles Manson Follower, Recommended For Parole

Leslie Van Houten, 68, has been approved of parole by a two-person state panel hearing on Wednesday.

LESLIE VAN HOUTEN RECOMMENDED FOR PAROLE

Van Houten was the youngest member of the Charles Manson “family” that took part in multiple killings in California in 1969, when she was just 19 years old. She was convicted of murder in the 1971 Manson trial and has been imprisoned ever since.

On Wednesday, a two-person state panel found van Houten suitable for parole. This is the easiest step in a complex process of being granted parole and leaving prison. Next she must be approved by the state Parole Board, and then lastly by California Governor Jerry Brown. Brown has blocked her release before and has yet to accept parole for any of the Manson “family” murderers. Last year, Brown blocked van Houten’s release last year when he felt she could not adequately explain what drove her, a privileged teen from a wealthy family, to join Manson and commit murder.

“I’ve had a lot of therapy trying to answer that question myself,” van Houten said in the hearing Wednesday. “To tell you the truth, the older I get the harder it is to deal with all of this, to know what I did, how it happened.”

Van Houten attempted an answer this time around. She explained that she had gotten into drugs, mainly LSD, starting at age 15. At 17, she ran away with her boyfriend during San Francisco’s Summer of Love, and found out she was pregnant when she returned. She claims her mother ordered her to terminate the pregnancy and then bury the fetus in their backyard. Soon after, she says she found Manson and his followers, and felt it would help her find peace. Many in the cult even believed Manson to be a Christ-like figure who would help them all solve their problems.

The night of the murders, van Houten and other Manson followers killed Los Angeles grocer Leno La Bianca and his wife Rosemary on Aug. 9, 1969. They carved up the bodies and smeared blood on the walls. Van Houten admits she held a pillowcase over Rosemary’s head while the others stabbed and mutilated her. When pushed to do so, van Houten stabbed the body with a butcher knife more than a dozen times. Van Houten was not present at the killing of pregnant actress Sharon Tate and four others the day before.

“I feel absolutely horrible about it, and I have spent most of my life trying to find ways to live with it,” she added in her testimony. None of the Manson family members who were convicted have been released from prison. The descendants of the La Bianca family were present at the hearing to oppose van Houten’s parole request.

Van Houten, however, has been active in prison and has earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in counseling, and has headed many prison programs to help fellow inmates. “You’ve been a facilitator, you’ve been a tutor, and you’ve been giving back for quite a number of years,” said Parole Commissioner Brian Roberts. He also noted that entering back into society will be particularly difficult for her, as much of the public is against her release. “So with that, we’d like to wish you luck,” Roberts concluded.