State panel recommends parole for disciple of Manson
CHINO, Calif. — Leslie Van Houten, the youngest of Charles Manson’s murderous followers, was recommended for parole Wednesday by a state panel that concluded she has radically changed her life during the more than 40 years she has been in prison for two brutal murders she helped commit 48 years ago and is no longer a threat to society.
The two-member panel’s ruling must still be approved by the state Parole Board and Gov. Jerry Brown, who reversed another panel’s ruling last year.
Van Houten, who was 19 when she killed for Manson during a series of murders that terrorized Los Angeles over the summer of 1969, appeared before a parole panel for the 21st time.
The decision now goes through a process of review in which Brown may uphold, reverse or modify the decision. He could also send the matter to the full Board of Parole Hearings, or take no action, in which case the parole decision would stand.
A similar panel at the California Institution for Women in Chino, where Van Houten is incarcerated, granted her parole last year but was overruled by the governor.
In reversing that panel, Brown said Van Houten had failed to adequately explain how a model teenager from a privileged Southern California family could have turned into a ruthless killer.
On Wednesday, the panel grilled her for two hours on how she could address the governor’s concerns.
“I’ve had a lot of therapy trying to answer that question myself,” she said.
She added, “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.”
When the panel announced its decision, Van Houten smiled.
“Thank you very much, I really appreciate it,” said the frail-looking, gray-haired prisoner who attended the hearing on crutches because of a knee injury suffered in a fall.
Van Houten has candidly described how she joined several other members of the “Manson Family” in killing Los Angeles grocer Leno Labianca and his wife, Rosemary, in their home on Aug. 9, 1969.
She was not with Manson followers the night before when they killed pregnant actress Sharon Tate and four others during a similar bloody rampage.