Leslie Van Houten, Political Prisoner
Yesterday, California governor Jerry Brown made a very wrong decision. Despite the fact that an old woman was deemed suitable for parole after serving nearly 50 years in prison, the governor went against the parole board’s well-considered April ruling and unilaterally denied Leslie Van Houten the freedom she now deserves. To this writer, Governor Brown’s denial of parole for Van Houten amounts to nothing more than political posturing.
When Leslie Van Houten was 19-years-old, she stabbed the already-dead body of Rosemary LaBianca 14 times. Leslie has never denied this. But the fact remains that she was a very young woman under the influence of a madman and mind-altering drugs at the time of the LaBianca killings in Los Feliz in 1969. She did not mastermind the murders, and she did not kill anyone.
Contrary to the buzz on social media right now, Leslie Van Houten did not participate in the murder of Sharon Tate and her friends in Benedict Canyon on August 9, 1969. It was conclusively proven in a California court that the heinous killings on Cielo Drive were indeed perpetrated by followers of Charles Manson, but Leslie Van Houten was not even at the scene of that dastardly crime. The following night, Van Houten entered the home of grocer Leno LaBianca on the orders of Charles Manson, and she did what she was told. Unlike the night before, Manson was present at the scene, as were Steve Grogan, Susan Atkins, Linda Kasabian, Patricia Krenwinkel, and Charles “Tex” Watson. Upon seeing the carnage unfold, young Leslie may have been in fear for her own life when Tex Watson told her to “do something,” and she plunged a knife into the back of Rosemary LaBianca’s already-dead corpse.
Just a few hours ago, the Los Angeles Times reported that Governor Brown presented a five-page document to explain his decision to deny parole to Van Houten. In his statement, the governor points to a psychological examination conducted a mere two years after Tate and LaBianca murders.
“Even two years after the murders, when interviewed by a psychologist, Van Houten admitted that, although she had no present desire to kill anyone, she would have no difficulty doing it again.”
Brown also said that he still did not understand how a “young woman transformed herself” into “a member of one of the most notorious cults in history and an eager participant in the cold-blooded and gory murder of innocent victims.”
What Governor Brown does not understand is the sorry fact that Leslie Van Houten did not “transform herself” into anything. After Brown’s unjust one-man decision on Friday, Van Houten’s attorney, Richard Pfeiffer, reiterated a number of circumstances that allowed the former homecoming princess to become susceptible to the charms of Charles Manson.
Pfeiffer noted that Van Houten’s idyllic childhood in the Los Angeles suburb of Monrovia soured shortly after the divorce of her parents. After her father left the family home, young Leslie was ousted from her social circle and soon became pregnant. Her mother forced her to have an illegal abortion (all abortions were illegal in California at the time) and bury the dead fetus in the backyard. Pfeiffer added, “Tell me that wouldn’t screw anybody up.”
Leslie was among a countless number of young people in California who experimented with various chemicals and cults in the 1960s. After her forced abortion, she turned to drugs and eventually, to Charles Manson for love and comfort. The songwriter-cum-madman purported himself to be the reincarnation of Jesus Christ, and young Leslie Van Houten believed him. She even admitted to loving him. As is the case with many religious zealots, she felt she had found her “true family” within the cult and trusted its charismatic leader without reservation.
The events that occurred on the nights of August 9 and 10, 1969 were ghastly, there is no doubt about that. Most of us who were alive during that hot California summer remember the panic that ensued as the press described the bloody scenes in Benedict Canyon and Los Feliz. But the fact remains that Leslie Van Houten did not kill anybody and that her participation in the tragic events were the actions of a drug-addled young girl under the influence of a charming leader and an absolute aberration of her usual personality. Ms. Van Houten has been a “model prisoner” during almost five decades of incarceration and does not, as Governor Brown claims, pose a danger or a threat to anyone, anywhere. The following statement is from Van Houten’s attorney.
“The opposition to parole has always been the name Manson. A lot of people who oppose parole don’t know anything about Leslie’s conduct. Her role was bad. Everyone’s was. But they don’t know what she’s done since then and all of the good she’s done.”
Shame on you, Governor Brown.
[Photo by Anonymous / AP Images]
