Leslie Van Houten | Manson Family Member Released From Prison | A Real Cold Case Detective's Opinion

yeah, let's talk about fears, okay, so the big news headline that I see today that I have to discuss is that Charles Manson follower Leslie Van Houten is going to be freed. Now it looks like it's a done deal in the past. You know, she's been recommended for parole. and be

released

, but the governor blocked it and so on, well, not this time because, according to this headline, the governor of California announced on Friday that he will not ask the state supreme court to block parole, so He has been in

prison

for 53 years. for the infamous Sharon Tay Rosemary Loveland, well, not

real

ly, not because she didn't participate in the murders on the Sharon tape, but she did participate in those of Rosemary and Leno La Bianca.

How do I feel about it? I've talked about this before in the past, Charles. Manson and his followers, especially, you know, I've always been attracted to girls since I was 15 when I read Helder Skelter and recently, a couple of months ago, I saw a great movie, Charlie says, I think it was the name and it was through the woman's perspective the three who were arrested for the murders uh Susan Atkins Patricia Krenwinkle and Leslie Van Houten great movie

real

ly good I was the best Manson movie I've ever seen um yeah, but they've always had a certain I no No I know a story that always intrigued me, actually, she should have been executed in 1970. 71 I guess each time the original sentence was handed down, which was the death penalty, but then the death penalty was revoked and it was life in Prison, I guess, and that's where he's been.

It took her several years to get Charlie and her habits out of her mind, so there are a couple of things here that are very important that we should talk about, one is whether they release her and that. It's a very difficult question for me to answer because people will say, well, listen, she paid her debt to society, she's in her 70s, maybe 80, probably in her 70s, um, that depends, of course, took someone's life and stabbed him. I think Rosemary loves. Bianca and it may have been after she died but she definitely held a pillow

case

over one of their heads and then stabbed them so I mean there are certainly people who have done less and spent less time certainly she She is definitely being punished for the notoriety of the

case

and I think it is unfair, but she participated in taking someone's life.

You know, what I think is that you guys just watched me do it and if you haven't, go back and watch the entire eight-episode series. did about the murder of Jennifer Hill, here you have a guy who was convicted and Kim Hubbard, who was sentenced to 10 to 20 years for killing a 12-year-old girl and gets out in 10. And then you compare him to Leslie Van Houten , hardly. so brutal and she wasn't the only participant like him and she's been in jail for 53 years. Why can I say without a doubt that it's because of the notoriety of the Manson

family

that you take that away from her and she's just another girl?

That will come out in eight or ten years. I'm sure of that, but she committed a heinous crime and was sentenced for that crime, but I guess if she had to choose, it's hard. It's really difficult how you feel for the victim's

family

, right? but I think what the question boils down to and I can answer unequivocally if he will reoffend and the answer is a thousand percent no one who thinks he will reoffend. I don't think he knows what they're talking about, not just his age. Now, that's not always the case because there are older people who reoffend and just don't know any better, but she's been a perfect example in

prison

.

Her titles have never been written to my knowledge, she deserves to be

released

. Don't know. I don't have the answer for that, huh, but I know she won't reoffend and that's important when someone is released, it's hard to put a time on it, hey, did this person commit this crime? Did she pay her debt to society well? what debt death penalty life sentence 10 years 20 years it's hard to put a time on that so I don't know I certainly used to believe that well one believed in the death penalty and I don't anymore two if they sentence you to life in prison without probation, so that's what you get, but that's a little unfair when that person made a big mistake when they were younger, they're not a habitual offender, that's different, a person who makes an instant split decision that changes. more than her life, the life of many people, I think of William Naguera, you know in the decision he made and there are a thousand more people, she is not a danger to society, she is not, but she certainly committed a crime, an atrocious murder and she has to serve time, but again, if I had to, I mean, if you're forcing me to make a decision, I would say that she should be released and it's the right decision if I was forced to do it, it's very difficult because, as far as As far as we're concerned, We know we only have One Life to Live and you hate to see a young girl who had so much potential throw it all away because of drugs because of Charles Manson and his preaching and if anyone says well, Charles Manson is not the which is why Leslie Van Houten was involved in these murders.

I would say you are an idiot. It's okay, if she never met Charles Manson. I feel like she would never have been in jail. That doesn't mean she wouldn't have gotten into trouble. I think maybe yes. Looking for something and going down the wrong path to begin with and maybe she would have met someone who was worse than Charles Manson, but she met Charles Manson and he told her in motion everything that happened from August 19th to '69 in forward until he died a few years. ago I just feel like without him she certainly would have been a different person maybe a better person I don't think she would have been a worse person Atkins co-defendant she died of a brain tumor a few years ago um, no I don't think she would ever come out, there's one Patricia Krenwinkle and I believe she is the oldest inmate in the United States.

She now she probably she will be next. I mean, the only difference between the two is the level of kills. Okay, Patricia Krenwinkle. I mean, I think she was involved both nights, certainly the first night and she, you know, went after, I think, Abigail Fulder and stabbed her, um, where Leslie Van Houten, her involvement was a little bit minor, other than that, For me, the same, at least the same person. inside the prison queen squeaky clean records getting the titles of her being a model citizen inside the prison, so will she get out next? Well, this opens the door for him and I think he's probably very happy for Leslie Van Houten.

Now I had dinner like some of you. I met Diane Lake of the Manson Family a few years ago and she had told me a story about, after the Los Angeles Bianca murders, how Leslie Van Houten came into her room at Spawn Ranch and was burning some items in the fireplace and she There were some stolen I mean they were coins or something like that from the Lobiancas and uh at that time and even now that's a very interesting story because I don't re

member

reading that anywhere, I don't re

member

seeing it in the court transcripts, but here having an eyewitness testimony doesn't change any of this, but I think it's a very interesting story now.

What will Leslie Van Houten do when she turns out well? She's probably going to have to spend at least a year in a halfway house where she's going to basically have a curfew you know they're going to teach her life skills listen she knows what she's doing wasn't she eight when she went to prison oh yeah, she may not know much about using a computer or an ATM card, but it's essential to find out, but she's an older person now, uh, she's going to get on with her life, an older person does, maybe she's going to crochet, he's not going to be in the club, you know, twerking, you know, when he came into it.

She was a hippie you know, she's just going to come in, she's going to try, I think, she's going to fall into obscurity like a lot of Manson's other followers, but the problem is the media isn't going to let her, they're going to try to get her. . all this and being the first interviewer and not giving it a moment and I don't like that um, it's just hard, it's very hard to know when you've paid your debt to society, so some of you are saying, well, leave it alone. being harassed by the press and stuff and yeah, maybe you're right, you know, I just don't like to see it, I guess it's a bit, I don't know, I think about these famous people without the paparazzi following them and you know that Some People have told me, well, you're famous now or you know that comes with the territory and I hate it when people say you know what I hate.

I don't like professional basketball much anymore. I stopped seeing it. uh, 10, 20 years ago, I don't know, after Jordan left and Kobe left, I was kind of done with that, but I used to watch it, but now it seems more, maybe it's because there are more cell phones at football games too. baseball. I hate these idiots. fans that sit there and interrupt them calling them um and they do it because there is no repercussion, they know that the professional athlete is not going to get up off the court and knock them out unless they are in our test, you know what I mean, so No I like those kind of number one fans, you can't take your kid, everyone curses saying the f-word and you're just trying to have some family time, you know, take your kid to a ball game and then you have these idiots. that they just want to curse at the players and then people say well they have to accept it, that's it, that's in their job description, no it's not like that when Leslie Van Houten comes out and starts going to the supermarket, does the people are going to be there? pointing at her and calling her a murderer, there will be some you already know and maybe they deserve it, but what about the baseball player who plays at Left Field and who is being interrupted and called out?

You know, racist terms. How about that kind of thing? They deserved it? It is one. of the millions of things that are wrong in society today, but I go back to Leslie Van Houten Manson's family, uh, hey, it's a bygone era, Manson is gone, Susan Atkins is gone. a Tex Watson um, you know, I got a letter from him not long ago about religion, of course, but he's still around. Would you reoffend if he got out? No, he wouldn't do it either, that's the thing, and he killed Stephen Sr. I know the voice Tech Forkowski Jay Sebring Glino or Rosemary La Bianca I mean, and some people say that Charles Tex Watson was the catalyst for these murders and I don't think he doesn't believe that at all.

It's all because of Charles Manson, but does that mean Watson should get out? He's not going to reoffend, but what does society say is enough time for him to pay his debt to society? I think he should get out. It's a little easier to answer, but not by much. I would say no, but. He will not re-offend, but due to the level and brutality of these involvements and multiple murders, I do not believe he should be released. If you compare it to Leslie Van Houten who was there during one night of the murders, she may have killed someone, but she was Most likely you know that after they died, she looks like maybe she should be released and I guarantee you that , like I said before, would have been released a long time ago if he hadn't been connected to the Manson family, especially in California, so that's what I think.

Hey, my thoughts are with Rosemary and Lena Le Bianca's family members and what they're probably going through right now, no doubt, okay, that's first and foremost and it should always be, but I also want to wish you best of luck to Leslie. Van Houten I think you know she did the best she could within those walls, much like I feel Bill Negara has done and I have no soft spot in my heart for criminals, but I recognize and respect when they put Respect on the job to get better and I think Leslie Van Houten has, so I wish her the best of luck in the future getting her released and I hope she gets to live out the rest of it, you know, a couple of years, maybe a decade , whatever it is.

I will be free and I hope she can enjoy it because we only get one chance at this life as far as we know. That's why I encourage people to live their lives to the fullest because we only have one as far as we know. I'm not going to congratulate Leslie Van Houten, but I will give her the best of luck and that's how I feel because Leslie Van Houten was granted parole and the governor didn't block it this time, so I guess we'll see you in The outside Leslie Mains out so long