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Re: Manson follower Leslie Van Houten should be paroled, California appeals court rules
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Newsom shafted
May 31, 2023, 5:30:03 AM5/31/23
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Patriot <la...@gmail.com> wrote in news:sma5ii$et8$1...@dont-email.me:
> She can still fuck. Put her to work on a street corner.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A California appeals court said Tuesday that Leslie Van
Houten, who participated in two killings at the direction of cult leader
Charles Manson in 1969, should be released from prison on parole.
The appellate court’s ruling reverses an earlier decision by Gov. Gavin
Newsom, who rejected parole for Van Houten in 2020. She has been
recommended for parole five times since 2016. All of those recommendations
were rejected by either Newsom or former Gov. Jerry Brown.
Newsom could request that California Attorney General Rob Bonta petition
the state Supreme Court to stop her release. Bonta’s office referred
questions to Newsom’s office, which didn’t respond to queries about
possible next steps.
Van Houten, now in her 70s, is serving a life sentence for helping Manson
and other followers kill Leno LaBianca, a grocer in Los Angeles, and his
wife, Rosemary.
Newsom has said that Van Houten still poses a danger to society. In
rejecting her parole, he said she offered an inconsistent and inadequate
explanation for her involvement with Manson at the time of the killings.
The Second District Court of Appeal in Los Angeles ruled 2-1 to reverse
Newsom’s decision, writing there is “no evidence to support the Governor’s
conclusions” about Van Houten’s fitness for parole.
The judges took issue with Newsom’s claim that Van Houten did not
adequately explain how she fell under Manson’s influence. At her parole
hearings, she discussed at length how her parents’ divorce, her drug and
alcohol abuse, and a forced illegal abortion led her down a path that left
her vulnerable to him.
They also argued against Newsom’s suggestion that her past violent acts
were a cause for future concern were she to be released.
“Van Houten has shown extraordinary rehabilitative efforts, insight,
remorse, realistic parole plans, support from family and friends,
favorable institutional reports, and, at the time of the Governor’s
decision, had received four successive grants of parole,” the judges
wrote. “Although the Governor states Van Houten’s historical factors
‘remain salient,’ he identifies nothing in the record indicating Van
Houten has not successfully addressed those factors through many years of
therapy, substance abuse programming, and other efforts.”
The dissenting judge argued that there was some evidence Van Houten lacked
insight into the heinous killings, and agreed with Newsom that her
petition to be released should be denied.
Nancy Tetreault, an attorney for Van Houten, said she expects Newsom to
request that Bonta ask the state Supreme Court to review the lower court’s
decision, a process that could take years.
In addition, Bonta will likely request a stay of the appellate court’s
ruling, Tetreault said. The high court could order Van Houten’s release
while it decides on whether to grant the stay.
“I will, of course, vigorously oppose any stay,” Tetreault said. “And they
could let her out during that process.”
Van Houten was 19 when she and other cult members stabbed the LaBiancas to
death in August 1969. She said they carved up Leno LaBianca’s body and
smeared the couple’s blood on the walls.
The slayings came the day after other Manson followers, not including Van
Houten, killed pregnant actress Sharon Tate and four others in violence
that spread fear across Los Angeles and captivated the nation.
Anthony DiMaria, whose uncle Jay Sebring was killed along with Tate, said
the judges’ ruling is the latest painful twist that the victims’ families
have endured over the decades.
“To say the appellate court’s decision is a travesty of justice is a
perverse understatement,” DiMaria said in an email to The Associated
Press. “When you look at the profound, horrific nature of her crimes and
the historic scars she has dealt American culture, it is unconscionable
that an appellate court would make amends for Leslie Van Houten.”
Van Houten was found suitable for parole after a July 2020 hearing, but
her release was blocked by Newsom. She filed an appeal with a trial court,
which rejected it. She then sought her release through the appellate
courts.
Hadar Aviram, a professor at UC College of the Law, San Francisco, said
that for many years, some criminals seeking parole in California were kept
in custody solely due to the heinousness of their past crimes, a practice
that was stopped by a state Supreme Court ruling.
Since then, state officials have made other arguments to block parole,
such as claiming defendants lacked sufficient insight about their crimes,
said Aviram, who wrote a book about the parole process in Manson-related
cases.
Van Houten, in particular, has largely stayed out of trouble since being
incarcerated and has an advanced degree, Aviram said, adding that the law
also requires that her young age at the time of her crimes be taken into
account.
“There is no reason whatsoever to keep her behind bars except for the
politics and optics of it,” she said.
___ Taxin reported from Orange County, California.
https://ktla.com/news/california/ap-manson-follower-leslie-van-houten-
should-be-paroled-california-appeals-court-rules/
> She can still fuck. Put her to work on a street corner.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A California appeals court said Tuesday that Leslie Van
Houten, who participated in two killings at the direction of cult leader
Charles Manson in 1969, should be released from prison on parole.
The appellate court’s ruling reverses an earlier decision by Gov. Gavin
Newsom, who rejected parole for Van Houten in 2020. She has been
recommended for parole five times since 2016. All of those recommendations
were rejected by either Newsom or former Gov. Jerry Brown.
Newsom could request that California Attorney General Rob Bonta petition
the state Supreme Court to stop her release. Bonta’s office referred
questions to Newsom’s office, which didn’t respond to queries about
possible next steps.
Van Houten, now in her 70s, is serving a life sentence for helping Manson
and other followers kill Leno LaBianca, a grocer in Los Angeles, and his
wife, Rosemary.
Newsom has said that Van Houten still poses a danger to society. In
rejecting her parole, he said she offered an inconsistent and inadequate
explanation for her involvement with Manson at the time of the killings.
The Second District Court of Appeal in Los Angeles ruled 2-1 to reverse
Newsom’s decision, writing there is “no evidence to support the Governor’s
conclusions” about Van Houten’s fitness for parole.
The judges took issue with Newsom’s claim that Van Houten did not
adequately explain how she fell under Manson’s influence. At her parole
hearings, she discussed at length how her parents’ divorce, her drug and
alcohol abuse, and a forced illegal abortion led her down a path that left
her vulnerable to him.
They also argued against Newsom’s suggestion that her past violent acts
were a cause for future concern were she to be released.
“Van Houten has shown extraordinary rehabilitative efforts, insight,
remorse, realistic parole plans, support from family and friends,
favorable institutional reports, and, at the time of the Governor’s
decision, had received four successive grants of parole,” the judges
wrote. “Although the Governor states Van Houten’s historical factors
‘remain salient,’ he identifies nothing in the record indicating Van
Houten has not successfully addressed those factors through many years of
therapy, substance abuse programming, and other efforts.”
The dissenting judge argued that there was some evidence Van Houten lacked
insight into the heinous killings, and agreed with Newsom that her
petition to be released should be denied.
Nancy Tetreault, an attorney for Van Houten, said she expects Newsom to
request that Bonta ask the state Supreme Court to review the lower court’s
decision, a process that could take years.
In addition, Bonta will likely request a stay of the appellate court’s
ruling, Tetreault said. The high court could order Van Houten’s release
while it decides on whether to grant the stay.
“I will, of course, vigorously oppose any stay,” Tetreault said. “And they
could let her out during that process.”
Van Houten was 19 when she and other cult members stabbed the LaBiancas to
death in August 1969. She said they carved up Leno LaBianca’s body and
smeared the couple’s blood on the walls.
The slayings came the day after other Manson followers, not including Van
Houten, killed pregnant actress Sharon Tate and four others in violence
that spread fear across Los Angeles and captivated the nation.
Anthony DiMaria, whose uncle Jay Sebring was killed along with Tate, said
the judges’ ruling is the latest painful twist that the victims’ families
have endured over the decades.
“To say the appellate court’s decision is a travesty of justice is a
perverse understatement,” DiMaria said in an email to The Associated
Press. “When you look at the profound, horrific nature of her crimes and
the historic scars she has dealt American culture, it is unconscionable
that an appellate court would make amends for Leslie Van Houten.”
Van Houten was found suitable for parole after a July 2020 hearing, but
her release was blocked by Newsom. She filed an appeal with a trial court,
which rejected it. She then sought her release through the appellate
courts.
Hadar Aviram, a professor at UC College of the Law, San Francisco, said
that for many years, some criminals seeking parole in California were kept
in custody solely due to the heinousness of their past crimes, a practice
that was stopped by a state Supreme Court ruling.
Since then, state officials have made other arguments to block parole,
such as claiming defendants lacked sufficient insight about their crimes,
said Aviram, who wrote a book about the parole process in Manson-related
cases.
Van Houten, in particular, has largely stayed out of trouble since being
incarcerated and has an advanced degree, Aviram said, adding that the law
also requires that her young age at the time of her crimes be taken into
account.
“There is no reason whatsoever to keep her behind bars except for the
politics and optics of it,” she said.
___ Taxin reported from Orange County, California.
https://ktla.com/news/california/ap-manson-follower-leslie-van-houten-
should-be-paroled-california-appeals-court-rules/
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