Charles Manson follower Leslie Van Houten released from prison after 53 years
Last edited Tue Jul 11, 2023, 07:23 PM - Edit history (1)
Source: ABC News
Former Charles Manson follower Leslie Van Houten was released from prison on Tuesday after serving 53 years behind bars, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
According to her attorney, Van Houten is now in a "transitional living facility."
She was released to parole supervision and "will have a three-year maximum parole term with a parole discharge review occurring after one year," the department said. Her release comes after California Gov. Gavin Newsom said last week that he wouldn't ask the state's Supreme Court to block her parole.
Van Houten was 19 when she participated in the Aug. 10, 1969, murders of Leno LaBianca, a wealthy grocer, and his wife, Rosemary LaBianca, at their Los Angeles home. The LaBiancas were both stabbed to death and the word "war" was carved on Leno LaBianca's stomach.
Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/US/charles-manson-follower-leslie-van-houten-released-prison/story?id=101106945
Article updated.
Original article -
She was released to parole supervision and "will have a three-year maximum parole term with a parole discharge review occurring after one year," the department said.
Her release comes after California Gov. Gavin Newsom said last week that he wouldn't ask the state's Supreme Court to block her parole.
Van Houten was 19 when she participated in the Aug. 10, 1969, murders of Leno LaBianca, a wealthy grocer, and his wife, Rosemary LaBianca, at their Los Angeles home. The LaBiancas were both stabbed to death and the word "war" was carved on Leno La Bianca's stomach.
obamanut2012
(29,335 posts)ificandream
(11,835 posts)BigmanPigman
(55,083 posts)People on DU agree that she should stay in jail, so did the 2 Dem CA governors (Brown and Newsom). Are Jerry Brown and Gavin Newsom on "the right"? No, both are big time Dems.
H2O Man
(78,994 posts)"some [eople on DU agree...." Others do not. And likely many have no opinion.
I agree with you that it is not an issue of "right" or "left."
ificandream
(11,835 posts)I agree, though, that the issue isn't just a RW issue and that there are those on both sides who have a problem with this.
LiberalLovinLug
(14,670 posts)"Especially if its an issue that we can milk as letting dangerous criminals walk free"
SOME on the left will object.
Because we are free thinkers who make up our own minds on how much is enough punishment. And if a person can be given another chance.
But ALL on the right will object.
Because they are in a lock step cult that only looks for opportunity to bash Democrats. Doesn't matter how sincere they are. Its about inflicting as much damage as they can from a story and moving on. Cocaine in the visitor cubby? Biden is a coke addict!!! etc.
Martin68
(27,631 posts)whole forum with your personal point of view. I thought it was right wingers who viewed prison as "revenge" rather than "punishment" and/or "rehabilitation. After 50 years and sincere expressions of remorse this woman has paid for her crime and is not a threat to society. The only reason to deny her parole is a barbaric desire for revenge.
MorbidButterflyTat
(4,451 posts)obamanut2012
(29,335 posts)XorXor
(690 posts)I just don't have desire to invest the amount of brain power internally debate this with myself. But I think the comment about the right is based on the way they politicize everything. Since this is happening in CA, to them it's a sign of weak on crime democrats. Whereas if this happened in Florida then it would show that the republican states are compassionate and rational about crime and punishment or whatever. It's like if Biden did the same criminal justice reforms trump did then the republicans would have had nothing positive to say about it. It's being oppositional for the sake of it. It's not because they have good arguments for why it's good or bad, it's all just tribal knee jerk responses.
obamanut2012
(29,335 posts)So, many not lump all of is in with "all of DU."
Oopsie Daisy
(6,670 posts)I hope she fades away into obscurity, and the next time she makes news is when her death is announced somewhere OTHER than the front page... just a small notice in the obits.
LeftinOH
(5,645 posts)she's due for parole. She made some really bad decisions when she was 19, but she didn't kill anyone.
This leaves just two other "family" members in prison: Patricia Krenwinkle, who is an actual murderer.. and Charles Watson -who is directly responsible for the cold blooded deaths of at least seven people- his later conversion to Christianity notwithstanding. These two can never be paroled, and they won't be.
It's really unfortunate that the families of Tate and Sebring have spoken against VanHouten's parole; she had no involvement with the first night of murders.
BigmanPigman
(55,083 posts)No one could determine if Mrs. LaBianca was already dead from the torture and strangling when Leslie started stabbing her. The medical examiners could not and Leslie had no idea if she was still alive or not but she kept on stabling and she said it was fun.
mzmolly
(52,775 posts)KING: Where?
VAN HOUTEN: In the lower back, around 16 times.
KING: How do you rationalize this for yourself now?
VAN HOUTEN: Not at all.
KING: Do you think about it a lot?
VAN HOUTEN: Yes, yes, I do.
KING: Did she -- was she screaming during this or did...
VAN HOUTEN: Once I went and called Tex, I when I stared -- I stared into an empty room, you know, just so I wouldn't have to deal with what was happening. I -- I couldn't really handle it. And I don't -- I remember her calling to her husband, but I don't have clear sound memory after that until Tex turned me around.
https://transcripts.cnn.com/show/lklw/date/2002-06-29/segment/00
Martin68
(27,631 posts)present at either killing yet he was found guilty of murder because he manipulated these young people as part of his insane delusional fantasies. I didn't believe Manson should be given parole because he was still a danger to society. This woman has paid the price for a crime she committed 50 years ago.
MorbidButterflyTat
(4,451 posts)Manson was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder.
He spent almost his entire life institutionalized.
LudwigPastorius
(14,656 posts)Holding Rosemary LaBianco down while the others stabbed her to death...just a "bad decision".
obamanut2012
(29,335 posts)Bugliosi actually stated before his death that she was rehabbed and a changed person, and if in the future she was released, he would be okay with it.
LVH lived as a model citizen between her trials, and was a 19-year-old raped, pimped out, kept addicted, etc. And, she did not kill anyone.
She served decades more than folks who committed similar crimes did. Decades more.
It is time.
oldsoftie
(13,538 posts)She should've gotten the needle along with the rest of them
Celerity
(54,303 posts)state-sanctioned murder is not the hallmark of a modern civilised society
oldsoftie
(13,538 posts)They deserve nothing but a quick dispatch. But no worries, we'll never do it the way it should be done. We'll just act shocked when people keep doing murdering.
Celerity
(54,303 posts)The US keeps some really shite company on this subject (China, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, etc).
Your logic is flawed, as the death penalty has been conclusively shown to not be a deterrent.
https://www.aclu.org/documents/death-penalty-questions-and-answers

oldsoftie
(13,538 posts)"largely in the heat of passion"? Hardly. And the "mentally ill" excuse holds no water either. To you & me, sure, they're "mentally ill" because they're KILLERS, but most are NOT clinically mentally ill. I dont know where the ACLU gets that from. Just look up any number of cases over the past year in your area. I dont care what other countries do or dont do. Most other countries also dont have the guns we have or the freedoms. With freedom comes responsibility. And they cant really do a reliable study when we've NEVER carried out the DP as it should be done; quickly. Dylan Roof should've been executed the day after his guilty verdict. But regardless of deterrence they dont deserve to live & as seen here, possibly end up free again.
Yes, I'm passionate about it. Because I've been around too many murders in families I know well & seen the killers show zero remorse.And they dont seem to care about prison either.
Celerity
(54,303 posts)reliance on discredited rationales.
Btw, in your model of expedited executions, so many people would be wrongly put to death, and THAT cannot be reversed if/when they are found to actually be innocent.
Truly done here, have a good night.
oldsoftie
(13,538 posts)NEVER seek the DP for any person who is not 100% guilty beyond any doubt. VERY easy; people like Dylan Roof. Those types there is NO doubt. And unfortunately there are PLENTY of those.
But theat'll never happen either. Politicians will call that "weakening" the law
obamanut2012
(29,335 posts)I do not discuss these things with people who advocate for murder. The DP is murder.
oldsoftie
(13,538 posts)And those like her since then.
People like Dylan Roof & Nickolas Cruz deserve not another day. And most of the US agree; but we'll instead let them spend decades in jail, getting fan mail and marriage proposals until some start talking about "well they're SO OLD now, they're no longer a "threat", its just cruel to keep them locked up" etc etc blah blah.
Meanwhile it would so easy to change the DP law to remove all chances (that we've had in the past) of executing an innocent person, but we wont do THAT either because the GOP would accuse you of being "soft on crime".
If we're NOT going to rid society of these types, then lets empty the jails of petty crooks & weed sellers & fill them with murderers.
Brenda
(2,032 posts)From the article:
Van Houten told ABC News in 1994 that she and another Manson follower took Rosemary LaBianca into a bedroom and "the sounds of Mr. LaBianca dying came into the bedroom -- horrible, guttural sounds. She started calling out to him and yelling for him. And at that moment, for a brief moment, I realized, you know, these are people that love each other."
"He said, 'Do something,' because Manson had told him to make sure that all of us got our hands dirty," Van Houten said. "And I stabbed Mrs. LaBianca in the lower back about 16 times."
She ain't innocent.
She should rot in prison.
obamanut2012
(29,335 posts)And you and others on here baying for blood is why I am against the DP.
marble falls
(71,800 posts)... deserves parole.
womanofthehills
(10,978 posts)He picked her up on the street and convinced her to go home with him.
ArkansasDemocrat1
(3,213 posts)She's his Aunt, many people say.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milhouse_Van_Houten
twodogsbarking
(18,608 posts)in my car when I first heard of it. Remember the exact spot.
Manson was pure evil.
TheRealNorth
(9,647 posts)She may have gotten off after a $500,000 fine.
walkingman
(10,783 posts)the Manson group's horrific murders had not basically marked the end of the era of Peace and Love.
It began an era of police violence against peaceful protesters, their opposition to the Vietnam War and the negative public image that developed around them. It was nice while it lasted but everything comes with a cost.
Jarqui
(10,904 posts)Tate-LaBianca murders August 810, 1969
Before those murders:
1967 June 23. 1,300 police attack 10,000 peace marchers at The Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles
1967 October 18. "Dow Day", University of WisconsinMadison. This was the first university Vietnam War protest to turn violent. Thousands of students protested Dow Chemical (maker of napalm) recruiting on campus. Nineteen police officers and about 50 students were treated for injuries at hospitals
1967 December 48. Stop the Draft Week demonstrations in New York. 585 arrested, amongst them Benjamin Spock.
1968 May. Agricultural Building at Southern Illinois University (SIU) bombed.
1968 May 17. Philip Berrigan and his brother, Daniel, led seven others into a draft board office in Catonsville, Maryland, removed records, and set them afire with homemade napalm outside in front of reporters and onlookers
1968 August 28. Democratic National Convention in Chicago protests, "The whole world is watching". Police Violence.
1969 March 22. Nine protesters smashed glass, hurled files out a fourth floor window, and poured blood on files and furniture at the Dow Chemical offices in Washington, D.C.
1969 March 29. Conspiracy charges against eight suspected organizers of the Chicago Convention protests.
1969 June 8. The Old Main building at SIU burns to the ground. Units of firefighters from all over the area tried to salvage the building but could not put out the fire before everything was destroyed.
They were burning draft cards, etc throughout.
RFK & MLK were shot in '68
I don't think the Tate-LaBianca murders had that much to do with it.
Police violence against protestors started at least 2 years before.
The protest against Vietnam grew as more soldiers came home in body bags or badly wounded with escalation of the war and as the media turned on it.
I was in a few of those protests.
walkingman
(10,783 posts)I don't remember the exact circumstances but I know I got my draft card in the mail. I was 2S because I was in school and I don't remember exactly what happened but later entered the draft lottery with number 328 and was never drafted.
I also participated in several protests, etc. but I have to say I loved those times - everyone seemed connected by a common cause and of course great music and sexy chicks. 😁
I think that is what is missing these days among young people. There are a lot of issues facing them but there is no common connection like it was during the Vietnam era. The Climate Change, BLM, Pro-Choice, Occupy Wallstreet, Me Too, Gun Control, LGBTQ, Homelessness, etc. should all join in a common cause and I think it could change our political environment. Probably just a pipe-dream but something has got to change this mess.
Jarqui
(10,904 posts)We are and were kind of too close to it.
We feared nuclear war more. That stands out.
But maybe because we didn't fear climate change yet. We seemed more concerned with pollution back then.
My first efforts for LGBTQ were in 1973-74 and even then, it was very much in the background.
The 1966 University of Texas tower shooting was the first mass shooting that really hit home for me. It was within 20 years of WW2 so guns were not the issue yet that they are today.
BLM was represented by the Civil Rights movement with MLK and others.
Roe v. Wade hadn't been decided - the sexual revolution and more open promiscuity was underway.
Me Too didn't exist as a major public issue though prevalent behind closed doors.
Occupy Wallstreet didn't exist in the same way. The wealthy paid more taxes and appeared to be more in check (than maybe they were in reality)
Homelessness seemed bad back then too.
Overall, I'm disappointed with what our generation is leaving to our kids. Our hopes were full of idealism and sky high.
With Climate Change, BLM, Pro-Choice, Occupy Wallstreet, Me Too, Gun Control, LGBTQ, Homelessness, etc. and student loan debt, I think the youth are not going to stand for it. The older MAGAs are going to die off and the youth will eventually prevail if we can hang on to the democracy.
BumRushDaShow
(169,161 posts)You're showing your age!
The younger generation is probably the "opposite" - overly "connected". You just don't "see" (or fathom) how they do it. It's called cell phones and social media. They can and do "connect" LIVE via text and/or video chats, with other young people, not just in their neighborhoods or schools, but from around the country, and literally from around the world.
They have been "internationalized", which is fascinating in itself. We used to do that via "pen pals" and air mail. They just get in some WhatsApp session and have at it - live and real-time.
Any appearance of "disengagement" is probably because they are operating on a different plane of "communications" and are forming opinions, not just from home, but from who they engage with outside of the home - magnified by that unlimited access to "the world" (or at least those who also have access nationally and internationally).
The whole "gun violence" issue (and soon-to-be "abortion" issue) is very much their battle. Don't ignore the "David Hoggs" of that younger generation and the movement that he and so many others started, and that hasn't let up. Schools around the country have had walkouts periodically the past year. It has also filtered into the state legislatures with new young Reps. (like Justin Jones and Justin Peterson) who have literally sacrificed their positions and run the gauntlet, to make their and their constituents and supporters' voices heard with respect to halting the idolization and proliferation of guns.
The country wasn't drowning in guns and mass shootings in the '60s, but it is now, and that is probably top of their list as homicide by gun has become a leading cause of death among young people.
And as a note - there was no "common connection" during the '60s (other than maybe the ages of the youth participating) because the Vietnam War protestors, although having some overlap with the Civil Rights protestors, did not really have that much "in common", socioeconomically or anything else. They acknowledged each other's focus but one group was just trying to be able to vote, live where they wanted, eat where they wanted, and go to school where they wanted without de jure and/or de facto racism standing in their way. Alternately, the other group was protesting the waste of lives in a "war" that was never declared a "war", and that was destroying families.
Until we are all truly on a "level playing field", there will be no "common connection".
walkingman
(10,783 posts)considering I am a retired EE who worked in the communication industry for a living before getting in to Operations. I do not text or use social media apps at all. I don't carry a phone with me ever unless I am going somewhere so you were right to pick up on the fact I really do not understand how people actually connect with each other these days. The young people I know don't like email and seem to text instead of speaking to each other??
Also, when my wife and I discuss this issue missing the old days, I always have to remind her that actually we were more than likely a minority back then even though it seemed everyone we knew thought like we did.
The gun thing I do not understand. It could be because I do not live in urban Austin but in a nearby rural setting so I don't have any fear, etc. But the support for proliferation of guns just doesn't make sense to me. ☮
BumRushDaShow
(169,161 posts)who will just send me TikTok links that describe a "situation" or their and their friends' "state of mind" - sortof like a video version of the static graphic "memes".
I have no account on any of these social media things but will look at any "web" versions that are publicly available, if I can.
When one of my nieces had a 16th birthday party last year, she and a whole pile of her friends were sprawled all over the living room, on chairs, sofas, and the floor, completely "silent", save for a giggle here and there, as they were "communicating" through the texts and video chats and whatnot - INCLUDING to the ones sitting right next to them.
Thing is - they know exactly what is going on in current events as they can suddenly start commenting about 45 and name names of the loons out of nowhere, but then will move onto something else. One wonders if they "are listening" and I found that they are, and I can actually have a conversation with them and they know what I am talking about (and they certainly aren't getting it from DU).
The older generations had to learn "duck and cover" and about fallout shelters and the younger ones have had to learn how to deal with an "active shooter" situation.
I wanted to edit to add that one of the most horrific "mass shootings" here in PA in the recent past happened in a very rural area - Lancaster County, PA in an area with Amish communities and at an Amish school house in West Nickel Mines, PA. There were 5 young girls killed and 5 others injured.
The school was eventually torn down and a new one built.
So "shootings" are not just an "urban" thing.
oldsoftie
(13,538 posts)Its yet another BAD thing China has unleashed on us. Get them to read this story. Plenty of others out there.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2023-04-20/tiktok-effects-on-mental-health-in-focus-after-teen-suicide?fbclid=IwAR3NR6azo0m_sg1lgC5QrL6X_ebzaVcCNZBoKrsX2GbgeidJFcr8tLPEvxU
BumRushDaShow
(169,161 posts)What happened was there was a popular video shorts app called "musical.ly" that many of that age group had downloaded and were using to record themselves doing karaoke type singing/dancing routines that they could share. I think the whole "K-Pop" phenomena got that activity going as these kids were often mimicking the dance routines of groups like "BTS", "BLACKPINK", "NCT", etc
I got dragged into the K-Pop because they were the groups who issued CD sets that I got birthday requests for.
They didn't actually play the CDs (this is a digital generation), but wanted the other stuff in the package like the photo-book, trading cards, and posters, etc. I had last dealt with that before all these newer groups came out when the Korean singer "Psy" came out with his "Gangnam Style" song over a decade ago.
And then TikTok bought musical.ly and rolled that huge group of musical.ly users into the TikTok ecosystem.
Showbizkid
(118 posts)Been freeloading for 50 years .
walkingman
(10,783 posts)and as of this year have been retired 20 years. Retired at 52 and it was the best decision of my life.
Time is short - enjoy every minute!!
Showbizkid
(118 posts)Just checking the parallels.
Martin68
(27,631 posts)excuse. I always saw the Altamont concert as the end of the Peace & Love era.
walkingman
(10,783 posts)During college I worked at the University Hospital (3-11 shift) to pay for school. I had long hair, left work one night and stopped at a gas station..noticed a cop looking at me from the parking lot. Left the station - he followed me and pulled me over searched my car, told me to get out - beat me with a nightstick and called the paddie wagon to pick me up. Drove me around for a while and them told me I had two choices - leave now (not any where near my car) and forget about it or go to jail for possession (weed - I had none). I left, called a friend to take me back to my car and wrote it off as bad luck - but I have never forgotten it (54 years later).
And people wonder why we called them "PIGS"?
Martin68
(27,631 posts)They were violent hard core criminals dealing in hard drugs and weapons.
I've heard a number of stories similar to the one you tell about police brutality against any man with long hair. I don't think most people are aware of that. I was offended by the term "pig" until I learned more about what was going on. Gays were treated the same way.
hookaleft
(1,093 posts)She was 19 at the time and under the influence of drugs and Charles Manson. She has served her time. She has been a model prisoner. Let us let enjoy her last years in the free world.
Archae
(47,245 posts)She's been in a jail cell for 53 years.
Jilly_in_VA
(14,343 posts)She's in her 70s and past the age when likely to re-offend, and since she is well away from Charles Manson and the drugs and the whole situation that got her into what she did and has been a model prisoner, I suspect the whole thing was an aberration. I think she's unlikely to re-offend in any way and will fade quietly into society. It would be best for her if she could change her name since she is a rather unremarkable looking person. Then nobody would really ever recognize her.
obamanut2012
(29,335 posts)Had a job, was a model citizen. I am also okay with it.
Skittles
(171,493 posts)she was still in prison not for what she did, but for who the victims were.....and she expressed remorse decades ago
Sneederbunk
(17,452 posts)Joinfortmill
(21,042 posts)CountAllVotes
(22,201 posts)n/t
area51
(12,671 posts)BigmanPigman
(55,083 posts)robbob
(3,748 posts)is that how it normally works? If a young adult commits murder and is tried and convicted would you expect that they will be jailed and spend the rest of their life incarcerated? There is no chance for parole, no chance for redemption? I dont know the statistics, but Im pretty sure a model prisoner usually has some chance of parole.
Which leads to the question; why are there so many here on DU vehemently opposed in this case? If we were talking about, for example, a young activist caught up in the Black Panther movement of the 60s, tried and convicted of killing a police officer, would so many here be saying lock them up and throw away the key? Even after 50 years incarcerated?
I think it is the horror and infamy of the Manson family killings that produces such a strong reaction. But if its ok, or even common, for another individual convicted of murder, even a horrific murder, to be considered for clemency after 50 years then why should it be otherwise in this case?
Chainfire
(17,757 posts)robbob
(3,748 posts)(#46) above.
Shanti Shanti Shanti
(12,047 posts)Martin68
(27,631 posts)trials. I think we may have reached saturation.
Shanti Shanti Shanti
(12,047 posts)LaBianca murders she was all covered in blood
Martin68
(27,631 posts)Showbizkid
(118 posts)Tarantino and true crime podcasts have kind of beaten that story into the ground.
I do have a personal Manson story that's pretty cool.
Pototan
(3,099 posts)...there is room in the Trump Cult for Leslie.
She may feel right at home there. After all, if you've seen one cult, you've seen them all.
Wonder Why
(6,909 posts)Vinca
(53,897 posts)Mysterian
(6,424 posts)My fear is that she will become some kind of sick society celebrity.
SYFROYH
(34,214 posts)prodigitalson
(3,193 posts)She dosed an unsuspecting Barbara Hoyt with like 20 hits of acid in acheeseburger.
whatever happened to Hoyt for that matter?