• 2-to-1 Vote Upholds 2017 Van Houten Reversal

2-to-1 Vote Upholds 2017 Van Houten Reversal

Friday, September 20th, 2019

Sept. 20 – In a 2-to-1 vote, California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal upheld Jerry Brown’s reversal of Leslie Van Houten’s 2017 parole grant.

Click here to read the appellate court opinion

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26 Responses to 2-to-1 Vote Upholds 2017 Van Houten Reversal

  1. Allen green says:

    Let her out she did her time

  2. John Luckett says:

    This is what it called a swing vote.It could have gone either way. The judge that agreed to let Leslie go free is nutts. I’m so glad she’s been confined to being in prison.It kind of made my day as I just lost my mother the other day at age 90 of heart and lungs collapsing.

  3. Eric says:

    They should let her out this happened 50 years ago times have changed people have changed you can’t hold someone responsible the things they have done fifty years ago right or wrong.

  4. Mdronen says:

    She did her time. Now its time to let her go.

  5. Tyler says:

    There’s people who’ve actually killed more than one person and done less time. Let the old woman go.

  6. Pimpius says:

    Yeah, you’re right. All she did was brutally murder somebody she didn’t even know just because her psycho friend told her to. Who cares how the loved ones of her victim feel about it… it was 50 years ago… *sigh*

  7. Scott Hill says:

    I honestly do not know how these people can sleep at night by denying Ms. Van Houten’s freedom when the law says she should have been released in about 1985 as long as there is no reasonable evidence of dangerousness which there isn’t. She didn’t even physically kill anybody or force anyone to so I think this whole thing is so overblown and people are just brainwashed into having a strong opinion about her role cuz they’ve heard about it so many times over the years. And Debra Tate’s constant lies about her almost every time she opens her mouth have not helped matters.

  8. Cybele Moon says:

    sadly some crimes should have been given a real life sentence to begin and then all this would not have to be dragged out in agony for all!
    50 years ago or not these crimes have been remembered by society for their horror (in which Van Houten participated willingly) and the victim’s families are still living.

    Anyway I said I would wait for the court’s decision either way. I really wasn’t sure which way it would go. It’s a heavy price but it was a heinous crime.

  9. Christy says:

    Leslie held down Rosemary LaBianca to be stabbed and also stabbed her. There is no evidence that LaBianca was dead when Van Houten stabbed her.

    It would be interesting to find out how many of the vacated death penalty cases actually did get parole. And, yes, I know Van Houten was retried and given a life sentence (since I doubt for one minute the majority in this state would have put up with her getting either the death penalty or life without parole given that her murder mates escaped both).

    As for her dangerousness, eh, I’ve said it before. She, herself, might not be a danger, something nobody knows but her but unless the state puts her in some kind of hiding she’s going to be an attractive nuisance with either fans of Manson trying to get her to restart the family or nuts who think she should have been executed and try to murder her. She’s most likely safer in prison.

  10. NoJusticeNoPeace says:

    test lol

  11. Andreas says:

    The dissent says it all. She is effectively a political prisoner at this point, because it is the political optics that are keeping her locked up.

    The terms of her release are not how we feel about the justice of it, but rather the application of law. She has earned her release years ago.

  12. Bob says:

    She MURDERED people…. Those people did not get to live their lives. She should have been executed in 1969.

  13. Bob says:

    ….. the people she killed have not changed. They are still dead!

  14. Snoop says:

    She will now go to state Supreme Court. You rejoice like this after your mom dies?!

  15. Michael says:

    Eric, plenty of people have rational cause for supporting Leslie’s release, but “you can’t hold someone responsible for the things they have done fifty years ago right or wrong” is definitely not one of them. She was an adult, she wanted to participate, so she chose to. Leslie herself, I’m pretty sure, would disagree with you on the “responsibility” point.

  16. Cybele Moon says:

    Ha Andreas, I get your point re; politics though I am loathe to put her in the category of a Nelson Mandela or Dilma Rousseff or any of those imprisoned or tortured for standing up to a an unjust regime. What about Tex Watson or Pat Krenwinkel too?

    As for the law and it’s application I think it needs a few revisions. I always wondered how in the Manson case, it could go from death penalty to life with possibility of parole after 7 years. We want rehabilitation but at the same time there are a few crimes that still fill us with revulsion and horror. Some states have the death penalty for certain crimes and others do not. So yes, it’s not justice per se but the application of current or existing laws.

    At this time in California the governor is allowed to veto- so that is part of the law as well. This whole continuing process and argument must be costing the tax payer plenty. Would she actually have a better or easier life outside the penal structure at this late date? Who knows but it certainly has been made into a cause celebre by the opposing parties. It seems people who oppose her release would like to see those laws changed as to a life sentence being just that for some vicious crimes

  17. Fred Bloggs says:

    Christy says:
    It would be interesting to find out how many of the vacated death penalty cases actually did get parole

    42 out of 107.

  18. Fred Bloggs says:

    Scott Hill says:
    She didn’t even physically kill anybody

    John Luckett says:
    I’m so glad she’s been confined to being in prison.It kind of made my day as I just lost my mother the other day at age 90 of heart and lungs collapsing

    What’s your point ?

    Eric says:
    this happened 50 years ago times have changed people have changed you can’t hold someone responsible the things they have done fifty years ago right or wrong

    The really worrying thing about that logic is highlighted by the final three words.

  19. Fred Bloggs says:

    Scott Hill says:
    She didn’t even physically kill anybody

    How do you know this, Scott ? This is actually something that nobody can know for sure, not Leslie, not Tex, not Pat. Even the coroner. But one thing is absolutely certain if we take Leslie’s words at face value; Rosemary was alive when she started stabbing her. She may have been but a heartbeat away from death, but she was still alive.

  20. Scofield says:

    LVH and Watson and PK collectively participated in the brutal murders of a middle age couple in their home. They left a carving fork in the abdomen of Mr Labianca and they used blood from the victims to write words on the walls and the refrigerator. Let me repeat that they used blood from the victims to write words on the walls and the refrigerator. None of the 3 living murderers will ever take a free breath again. The state will never let that happen

  21. Jonathan Hart says:

    Scofield said: “The state will never let that happen.”

    You’re probably right about that. That’s because California isn’t following the law, at least with regard to high profile prisoners and parole. With LVH, decisions have been totally based on politics, not whether she’s met criteria for parole, etc. California is bad about following the law.

  22. Christy says:

    Jonathon you realize that also applies to Sirhan Sirhan.

  23. Christy says:

    Thanks Fred. That’s a surprise since most are seniors now.

  24. Stacy Jackson says:

    It is time for Leslie’s release. She has been found to be fit for society. She has been rehabilitated. Her freedom should not be used for political purposes.

  25. Rosie Lowe says:

    And Leslie Van Houton has testified many times that she knew there would be killing the night she went out with Manson, Krenwinkel, Watson, Atkins, Kasabian and Grogan. After the murders she and Krenwinkel and Atkins boasted to other women in the Family about the murders they took part in. When the State of Calif. changed their death sentences to life with possibility of parole I am sure they all cheered. When do all of their victims get paroled from their graves? when to the loved one of their victims get paroled? Never. It doesn’t matter that she is in her late 60’s. She knew exactly what was going to happen when she got out of that car in the night of Aug. 9, 1969. You do the crime you do the time!

  26. Tim Bailey says:

    Pray for Australia!

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