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Leslie Van Houten, disciple of Charles Manson, deserves to be released from prison. A saga that has been going on for years takes another turn today. A court of appeal has questioned his jurisdiction in this case.
Van Houten's lawyer told a panel of three judges of the district's second appeals court that his client was remorseful and took responsibility for his crimes. A public prosecutor said the 69-year-old had accused Manson too much.
Van Houten was 19 when she and other members of Manson's cult stabbed Los Angeles grocer, Leno LaBianca, and his wife, Rosemary, deadly in 1969. The murders took place a day after the death of actress Sharon Tate and four other crimes that shocked the world.
Van Houten, serving a life sentence, was not involved in the other murders.
A parole board has recommended that Van Houten be released three times since 2016, considering that she was no longer a threat to society.
Former Gov. Jerry Brown blocked the first two recommendations and the third headed for Governor Gavin Newsom.
Separately from Newsom's decision, the court of appeal is considering a decision of a lower court that had blocked Van Houten's release last year.
In parallel cases, the judges were wondering if they would still have jurisdiction to rule if Newsom refused Van Houten's parole.
His lawyer, Rich Pfeiffer, told them that they had an obligation to make a decision, adding that no elected politician would ever accept Van Houten's parole because of the 39, infamy of the case.
"If the courts do not release Ms. Van Houten, she will never be released," Pfeiffer said. "Courts are empowered to make difficult decisions, and sometimes unpopular decisions, in order to enforce the law, which is why the courts exist, otherwise it becomes a rule of the crowd."
Deputy Attorney General Jill VanderBorght said the issue should be part of Newsom's decision. She stated that Pfeiffer's argument that it was unlikely that Van Houten would be released without a court decision was irrelevant.
"We are only looking at this unique case of cancellation of parole," she said. "We do not have to think about tomorrow or politics, in fact, the court should not."
The judges gave Pfeiffer and VanderBorght five days to argue the issue of jurisdiction. Judges have three months to decide on Van Houten's parole.
Courts generally may be reluctant to intervene in parole cases, said Samuel Pillsbury, a professor of criminal law at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.
"It's very emotional," said Pillsbury. "Voters have decided that the governor should have a veto on this issue, so the courts would prefer this process to take place."
If the decision is up to the governor, Pillsbury said Van Houten was having a tough battle.
"The Manson case is one of a kind," he said. "The entire state and a large part of the country still feel some trauma, which makes it a very different case from the point of view of an elected."
Sharon Tate's sister, Debra Tate, was at the hearing and told The Associated Press that Van Houten did not deserve to be released under any circumstances and did not apologize personally with the families of the victims.
"A truly remorseful individual would like to do everything possible to say that he is sorry, not to the people who have the power to release them, but to the people they hurt the most," Tate said. .
The former detainee, Cheryl Minichilli, said after the hearing that she had never seen anyone who had more remorse than Van Houten.
"She showed me what it took to look deep inside me and figure out what I did … bad for me to fix myself," said Minichilli, adding that Van Houten had framed her, along with dozens of other inmates over the years.
"All her life is dedicated to helping others," she said.
In refusing Van Houten's parole last year, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge William Ryan said it "would pose an unreasonable risk to society", citing brutal nature of the crimes.
During one of his parole hearings, Van Houten said that she was traveling up and down the California coast when an acquaintance drove to Manson. She candidly described how she had joined several other members of the group to kill the LaBiancas, carve the body of Leno LaBianca and stain the blood of the couple on the walls.
Manson died of natural causes in 2017 in a California hospital while he was serving a life sentence.
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