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Manson Family Member Dealt Setback by California Court
Mon Mar 1, 2004 09:32 PM ET The 4th District Court of Appeal ruled that the state Board of Prison Terms had made a "serious, deliberate and thoughtful" decision in June of 2000 when it denied Van Houten parole for the 12th time. The decision strikes down a ruling by San Bernardino Superior Court Judge Bob Krug, who ruled in 2002 that the board had failed to make proper findings in rejecting her release. Authorities had appealed Krug's ruling. The appeals court said the board had used the correct standard when it found that the seriousness of Van Houten's crime, which she committed when she was 19, outweighed her rehabilitation behind bars. "We find ample evidence that the crime was of such a heinous, atrocious and cruel character that this factor alone justified the board's determination that Van Houten was unsuitable for parole," the judges wrote. Charles Manson and his "family" of followers were convicted and sentenced to death for the 1969 murders of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca, actress Sharon Tate and four others. Their sentences were later commuted to life in prison. All of them remain in prison and Van Houten has been rejected for parole twice more since Krug's ruling. Van Houten, a former homecoming queen who sang in the church choir, met Manson at a California commune and joined his so-called family. According to the opinion, she once described the Manson family as "a wonderful commune of kids." She admitted to stabbing Rosemary LaBianca at least 14 times. Manson believed that the Beatles in their song "Helter Skelter" were warning of an impending race war between blacks and whites. He hoped to touch off such a conflict, according to court records, by murdering whites around Los Angeles in such a way that blacks would be blamed for the crimes. |
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