Gov Newsom will not appeal ruling allowing release of Manson follower

[BigmanPigman]

Leslie Van Houton.

https://abc7.com/manson-family-gavin-newsom-follower-released-leslie-van-houten/13475336/

"California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Friday that he won't ask the state Supreme Court to block parole for Charles Manson follower Leslie Van Houten, paving the way for her release after serving 53 years in prison for two infamous murders.Newsom's office had blocked Van Houten's parole three times before, but was overturned this time by an appeals court."

"In a brief statement, the governor's office said an appeal was unlikely to succeed at the state Supreme Court. Newsom is disappointed, the statement said."

"More than 50 years after the Manson cult committed these brutal killings, the victims' families still feel the impact," the statement said. Van Houten, now in her 70s, is serving a life sentence for helping Manson and other followers in the 1969 killings of Leno LaBianca, a grocer in Los Angeles, and his wife, Rosemary. Van Houten could be freed in about two weeks after the parole board reviews her record and processes paperwork for her release from the California Institution for Women in Corona, her attorney Nancy Tetreault said. She was recommended for parole five times since 2016, but Newsom and former Gov. Jerry Brown rejected all those recommendations."


*I finished rereading Helter Skelter a few weeks ago and I think she should stay in jail. She actually enjoyed stabbing the LaBiancas and thought it was a great time, fun-fun. She should be glad she didn't get the original sentence...death. The state of CA outlawed the death penalty a few years after she was sentenced.

[madaboutharry]

1. It's complicated.

She’s an old woman. In 1969 she was doing drugs and indoctrinated into a sick cult.
There is no reason to think after 53 years of being a “model prisoner” that she is in any way a threat to society.

It all comes down to whether you believe a murderer should ever be released from prison, regardless of evidence of reform or the passage of time.

I know I believe the death penalty has no place in a civilized society.

Paroling Leslie Van Houten is a tough one. But at this point denying her parole would seem more about politics than punishment.

[jstephenj]

2. Considering that her original sentence was death...

she should remain in prison for the rest of her life. Some crimes rise to such a level that they demand the expectation that the perpetrater never be let back into free society ever again.

[pdxflyboy]

3. You said it for me.

N/T