Manson Family Member Leslie Van Houten Has Been Recommended For Early Parole

After serving over five decades in prison for two gruesome killings, Manson family member Leslie Van Houten has been recommended for parole by a California appeals court.

The 1969 murders of businesswoman Rosemary LaBianca and her husband, grocer Leno LaBianca, rocked Los Angeles. That might illuminate why, although Van Houten has been recommended for parole five times since 2016, she's been denied each time, first by former Gov. Jerry Brown and most recently by Gov. Gavin Newsom, who claimed in 2020 that the 73-year-old Van Houten still poses a danger to society and that her explanation of her crimes has been inconsistent and incomplete.

This time, however, the appellate court overturned Newsom’s most recent decision, again citing Van Houten’s rehabilitation over the last decades — though the governor could still request that the state attorney general petition the state Supreme Court to stop the release.

A deep cultural impact

“In Leslie's case, five times the court of appeals has now found that the governor's reversal lacked even a modicum of evidence showing that she presents a current unreasonable risk of danger to public safety,” Van Houten lawyer Nancy Tetreault said on LAist-89.3's public affairs program AirTalk.

Even so, the Mansons’ violence left an indelible imprint on American life, according to Elisabeth Garber-Paul, culture editor for Rolling Stone.

The crimes and their perpetrators are still imprinted and mythologized in American culture — the idea that a single individual, Charles Manson, could command such a deep and terrible influence over his young followers was a chilling one, particularly at a time when many adults were worried about the effects of pop culture and social unrest on young people.

“They were able to see these crimes as the playing-out of their worst nightmares,” Garber-Paul said.

This cultural impact could be complicating Van Houten’s case. The governor might face intense backlash if he allows her release to proceed, and it can be difficult to separate the facts of Van Houten’s parole recommendation from the fear her name invokes.

Garber-Paul said she understands why the governor feels the need to deny Van Houten’s parole, given the terror carried out by Manson's cult.

“If we're looking at her as a symbol, then that's one question. But she's also a human who has been in jail for more than 50 years, and who is a citizen of the United States and is entitled to legal protections,” Garber-Paul said.

“If, as the California courts have now ruled, she is eligible and should be able to pursue parole, then that's what the court system is there for,” she said.

Listen to the conversation