Leslie Van Houten in 2017, during one of his more than twenty hearings before the California Department of Corrections. Stan Lim (AP)
Leslie Van Houten caresses freedom. The Manson family member was handed a suspended sentence on Tuesday after serving a 53-year sentence for the 1969 murder of two people in a California prison. Van Houten, who is 73, left prison this morning and was transferred to a transitional home where she can prepare for her return to society next year.
Prison officials have for years recommended parole for Van Houten, who was 19 when the hippie group committed the crimes. But this was prevented by the provincial governors, who have the last word. California Gov. Gavin Newsom had banned it three times, as had his predecessor, fellow Democrat Jerry Brown, in 2018. Last week Newsom said he would not honor an appeals court ruling that ordered the ban. The killer’s release would force him to take the case to the California Supreme Court. “The governor is disappointed with the court’s decision but will not pursue any criminal proceedings as an appeal is unlikely to succeed,” the governor’s spokesman said.
Charles Manson, who died of natural causes in 2017, and four followers of his cult were sentenced to death in 1971 for the heinous crimes that shocked the world. The sentences were commuted to life imprisonment by a court decision the following year. Van Houten was involved in the murder of store owner Leno LaBianca and his wife Rosemary, committed in August of the same year in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles.
During the attack, Van Houten covered the woman’s head with a pillowcase while her accomplices stabbed her. When the body was on the ground, he stabbed her at least 14 more times to ensure she was dead. The clan’s followers later used the couple’s blood to inscribe the walls of the residence north-east of the city. Van Houten was not present at the killing of Sharon Tate and four others at Roman Polanski’s Benedict Canyon home last night.
Leslie Van Houten in prison in a 1971 picture. Anonymous (AP)
Van Houten, originally from Monrovia, a town east of Los Angeles, graduated high school only as a free man. The divorce of her parents meant a misfortune for her, which opened the doors to the world of drugs for her. At the age of 14 he began using lysergic acid, LSD. At 17, she became pregnant and had an abortion. In early 1968, he found a new family at the Spahn ranch, which was the Manson clan’s center of operations.
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The prison authorities have recommended Van Houten’s conditional release more than five times since 2016. In all, the inmate was judged more than 20 times by the prison authorities. With the exception of one incident in 1981 involving “verbal exchanges with other women,” her conduct at Chino Prison was impeccable. Behind bars, he continued his studies with a bachelor’s degree and other graduate degrees. The appeals court judges hearing the case also recognized her decades of therapy, self-help activities, and the hours of reflection that Van Houten devoted to her actions over five decades. Her attorney, Rich Pfeiffer, boasts that his client has the best record of good behavior of any prison inmate in the state.
The most important thing for the committee considering a third-degree prison sentence was that he had repented of his crimes. “There is strong evidence of his rehabilitation and no evidence that he is currently a danger,” Gov. Brown said in 2018. “More than 50 years after these horrific killings were committed, the victims’ families are still feeling the effects.” Newsom said in his statement last week.
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