Category: Charles Manson

Leslie Van Houten, the one-time Charles Manson follower long seen as the most likely of his ex-acolytes to win freedom someday, was denied parole Tuesday for a 19th time in the killings of Leno and Rosemary La Bianca.

At the conclusion of the emotional three-hour hearing, the chairman of the parole board, Robert Doyle, said Van Houten was not yet suitable for parole because she had failed to gain complete insight into her crime and its motivation.

While commending her for her adjustment to prison and her work on behalf of other prisoners, Doyle and deputy commissioner Carol Bentley said the crimes involved were so atrocious and heinous that they must be considered in the decision.

Leslie Van Houten, the one-time Charles Manson follower long seen as the most likely of his ex-acolytes to win freedom someday, faces her 19th parole hearing with a new lawyer and new case law which may give her the best chance yet for release.

Van Houten, 60, remains incarcerated at the California Institution for Women at Frontera, the same prison where another Manson follower, Patricia Krenwinkle, is imprisoned. Susan Atkins, the third woman convicted of murder in the crimes directed by cult leader Manson, died in prison last year after parole officials denied her dying request for freedom.

Van Houten’s chances for parole are enhanced by the fact that she has been discipline free since her incarceration in the early 1970s, has positive psychological reports and has been active in self-help groups at the prison including “Golden Girls,” a group for elderly women inmates.

She has a new lawyer, Brandie Devall, who told The Associated Press she will refer to rulings by the California Supreme Court in 2008 and 2009 affecting standards for parole.

For the second time in as many years, a state parole board voted unanimously Wednesday to deny one of Charles Manson’s fiercest followers her request for a “compassionate release” so that she can die at home.

Former Manson prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi said it was time for the state to show Atkins mercy.

Susan Atkins, 60, played a central role in the slayings of Tate and others in a bloody two-night rampage in the Los Angeles area.

She has served 37 years in prison, longer than any other woman currently a prisoner in California, officials say.

Now ill with brain cancer, with one leg amputated and the other paralyzed, Atkins has only months to live, doctors have said.

The petition for Atkins’ release ignited debate about what mercy is appropriate, particularly considering the grisly crimes for which she was convicted.

Investigators and scientists went to Charles Manson’s last hideout to hunt for clandestine graves that could contain other possible victims. The closest thing they found were animal bones.

Of particular interest today were two sites where cadaver dogs and analyses of soil samples produced mixed but somewhat encouraging results that could possibly support lingering rumors that bodies may be buried at Barker Ranch.

Van Houten was convicted of murder and conspiracy for participating with fellow Mason family members Charles “Tex” Watson and Patricia Krenwinkel in the Aug. 9, 1969, slayings of grocers Leno and Rosemary La Bianca at their Los Feliz home.