Former Charles Manson follower and convicted killer Leslie Van Houten rejected in her 20th bid for parole

The only thing I have to say about the so called Manson Family is that Charlie got a bum deal and the rest should have been electrocuted.

Ex-Charles Manson follower Leslie Van Houten, 63, was denied parole on Wednesday after she claimed she's now trying to live a life for healing.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/manson-follower-leslie-van-houten-changed-parole-bid-article-1.1364215

LAPD Probing Manson Family Link to 12 Unsolved Homicides

LOS ANGELES -- The LAPD said has opened investigations into a dozen unsolved homicides that occurred near places where the Manson family operated during its slew of murders four decades ago. The revelation came amid a legal battle to obtain hours of audio tapes recorded in 1969 between Charles Manson follower Charles "Tex" Watson and his attorney. The LAPD has said detectives believe tapes could shed more light on the activities of Manson's group, but Watson has been fighting to limit their access.

http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-manson-family-murders,0,3190998.story

Manson gang 'linked to unsolved murders' after hours of taped 'confessions' unearthed

Hours of audio recordings of 'confessions' made by Charles Manson's right-hand man could provide vital details of unsolved murders carried out by their notorious 1960s gang.

Los Angeles Police Department has made a request for eight hours of taped conversations between Charles 'Tex' Watson and his lawyer Bill Boyd, America's NBC reported.

Detectives believe the recordings could hold new information about killings carried out by the Manson Family, which in 1969 murdered seven people including film director Roman Polanski's pregnant wife Sharon Tate.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2149811/Manson-gang-linked-unsolved-murders-hours-taped-confessions-unearthed.html

Manson likely a no-show for his parole hearing

CORCORAN, Calif. -- Debra Tate hopes that Wednesday is the last time she has to walk into a prison holding Charles Manson and argue in front of a parole board panel that he should not be freed.

For four decades the sister of murdered actress Sharon Tate has traveled to whatever rural California prison has held the notorious cult leader and his band of murderous followers for hearings she says are too numerous to count.

"I've tried to take this thing that I do, that has become my lot in life, and make it have purpose," says the 59-year-old Tate, who was 17 in August 1969, when Manson sent his minions across LA on two nights of terror. "I've been doing it for Sharon and the other victims of him for the last 40 years."

The parole hearing at Corcoran State Prison in Central California, Manson's 12th, could be the last one for the aging mass murderer (?). Manson, now a gray-bearded, 77-year-old, has sent word that he doesn't plan to attend what might be his final chance to ask for freedom.

http://www.kansascity.com/2012/04/11/3547860/manson-likely-a-no-show-for-his.html

Manson follower 'Tex' Watson up for parole today

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - The self-described right-hand man of cult leader Charles Manson who was convicted of orchestrating a pair of notorious slayings 42 years ago has his latest parole hearing scheduled Wednesday.

http://www.thespec.com/news/world/article/625799--manson-follower-tex-watson-up-for-parole-today

Charles Manson - Look at Your Game Girl

"Cell" Phone: Charles Manson Busted with a Mobile | NBC Los Angeles

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

Leslie Van Houten, ex-follower of Charles Manson, seeks parole for 19th time

Leslie Van Houten, convicted and sentenced to jail for participating in the Charles Manson 1969 murder spree in California, is seeking parole from prison again.

By Associated Press / July 6, 2010

Los Angeles

Leslie Van Houten, the one-time Charles Manson follower long seen as the most likely of his ex-acolytes to win freedom someday, faces her 19th parole hearing on Tuesday with a new lawyer and new case law which may give her the best chance yet for release.

Even if there is a finding of suitability for parole at the hearing, freedom would not be immediate. The entire state parole board would review the decision within 120 days and it would then be submitted to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for a final ruling.

Van Houten, 60, remains incarcerated at the California Institution for Women at Frontera, the same prison where another Manson follower, Patricia Krenwinkle, is imprisoned. Susan Atkins, the third woman convicted of murder in the crimes directed by cult leader Manson, died in prison last year after parole officials denied her dying request for freedom.

Van Houten last appeared before a parole board in 2007. Her chances for parole are enhanced by the fact that she has been discipline free since her incarceration in the early 1970s, has positive psychological reports and has been active in self-help groups at the prison including "Golden Girls," a group for elderly women inmates.

She has a new lawyer, Brandie Devall, who told The Associated Press she will refer to rulings by the California Supreme Court in 2008 and 2009 affecting standards for parole.

Most significant is the case of Sandra Lawrence, a convicted murderer who was paroled after 23 years in prison after the court held that to refuse parole there must be evidence that a prisoner is currently a danger to public safety. The court said the board could not base a refusal only on the details of the crime committed by the inmate long ago.

Devall said the finding has also been upheld in federal court.

Another recent case, she said, deals with inmates who are between 16 and 20-years-old at the time of their crimes and holds that they are more likely to be rehabilitated.

Van Houten was 19 when she joined other members of the Manson cult in the killings of Leno and Rosemary La Bianca.

Devall said the cases she will cite had not been decided at the time of Van Houten's last parole hearing. She said she will cite Van Houten's age, her youth at the time of the crimes and her extreme remorse. "There is no evidence of current dangerousness," she said.

The prosecutor who will argue against Van Houten's parole, Patrick Sequiera, did not return calls to the AP.

Van Houten was convicted of murder and conspiracy for her role in the slayings of the wealthy grocers. The La Biancas were stabbed to death in August 1969, one night after Manson's followers killed actress Sharon Tate and four others including celebrity hairdresser Jay Sebring, coffee heiress Abigail Folger, filmmaker Voityck Frykowksi and Steven Parent, a friend of the Tate estate's caretaker.

Van Houten did not participate in the Tate killings but went along the next night when the La Biancas were slain in their home. During the penalty phase of her trial she confessed to joining in stabbing Mrs. La Bianca after she was dead.

The Tate-La Bianca killings became one of the most notorious murder cases of the 20th Century and continues to rivet public attention 41 years later.

In past parole hearings Van Houten has apologized to the victims' families and expressed remorse for her actions.

If she is refused parole, it is uncertain when she would get another chance. Under a new law, the board can set the length of time between parole hearings at 3, 5, 7, 10 or 15 years. Prison officials said Van Houten is in good health.

Related:

Charles Manson follower denied bail by Gov. Schwarzenegger

From: http://www.csmonitor.com/From-the-news-wires/2010/0706/Leslie-Van-Houten-ex-follower-of-Charles-Manson-seeks-parole-for-19th-time

Charles Manson Then and Now (1992)

A documentary by Nick Bougas

I traced my dad... and discovered he is Charles Manson

By PETE SAMSON
US Editor

Published: 23 Nov 2009

LIKE many adopted children, Matthew Roberts set about finding his biological parents with a mix of nerves and excitement.

In particular, he hoped that discovering his father's identity would help him to work out what made him the man he had become.

But nothing could have prepared him for being told his dad was... serial killer CHARLES MANSON.

Over a five-week period in the summer of 1969, Manson and his Family of commune followers committed a series of nine gruesome murders. Victims included pregnant actress Sharon Tate, wife of film director Roman Polanski.

Matthew, 41 - who bears a haunting resemblance to his father - sank into depression after discovering his identity.

He has since been in contact with his dad in a series of letters to his California prison and Manson has replied - each time chillingly signing off with a swastika.

Now Matthew, who was given up for adoption as a baby, has told of his horror at finding out he was the son of a monster.

He says: "I didn't want to believe it. I was frightened and angry. It's like finding out that Adolf Hitler is your father.

"I'm a peaceful person - trapped in the face of a monster."

Matthew grew up in Rockford, Illinois, and didn't know he was adopted until his sister told him when he was ten.

He loved his adoptive parents but always knew he was different. He says: "My parents were great people, but very conservative.

"They were products of the Fifties and I didn't relate to them. My biological parents were products of the Sixties and I take on a lot more of those characteristics."

He also reveals his adoptive father tried to discourage him from getting in contact with Manson, telling him: "Nothing good will come from this."

Letters

Matthew, who now lives in Los Angeles, began investigating his family history 12 years ago when he contacted a social services agency who located his mother, Terry, in Wisconsin.

He wrote to her straight away and their early exchanges will be familiar to adopted children everywhere.

She confirmed she was his mum and told him she had named him Lawrence Alexander - and that she would tell him his last name in time.

The jigsaw of his life was beginning to take shape but it was still missing a crucial piece - his father.

Terry remained tight-lipped about his identity but after Matthew pressed her for details in a string of letters, she eventually revealed the awful truth.

She said she met commune leader Manson in 1967 - two years before the infamous "Manson Family" murders in Los Angeles for which he is still in jail at the age of 75.

But back in 1967, Terry had been one of many who were transfixed by Manson's charms.

Her father had tried to chase him away when he met Terry, calling him a "white-trash biker bandit" but she found him charismatic and hypnotizing.

So she hopped on a bus with his Family and ended up in San Francisco. There she claims she was raped by Manson in a drug-fuelled orgy, after which she returned home and Matthew was born on March 22, 1968.

Terry always believed Manson was the father of the baby she gave up for adoption. And after seeing a picture of Matthew, her worst nightmare was confirmed.

For he is the spitting image of Manson, with the same nose, mouth, eyes and large forehead. They even have the same thick, arched eyebrows and long, thick, dark hair.

Like his father, Matthew is a songwriter and poet. He is even worried that he may have inherited his father's schizophrenia.

Matthew, now working as a DJ, recalls hearing mum Terry's bombshell: "She even said, 'You look just like him'.

"I'm not nuts but I've got a little bit of it. It's scary and upsetting. If I get worked up, my eyes get really big and that's really freaked some people out before.

"I've tried to tone that down quite a bit. I don't like having that effect on people.

"I don't even like the fact that I'm big. It makes me even scarier. My hero is Gandhi. I'm an extremely non-violent, peaceful person and a vegetarian.

"I don't even kill bugs. I've had long hair all my life. I could make it go away, but I can't let the world and their fears change me." After discovering the truth, it took Matthew five years to pluck up the courage to write to his father at Corcoran State Prison in California.

Manson replied to Matthew's letter straight away and has since sent him a string of ten handwritten notes and postcards signed with the wartime Nazi symbol.

Hobo

Matthew says: "He sends me weird stuff and always signs it with his swastika. At first I was stunned and depressed. I wasn't able to speak for a day. I remember not being able to eat."

According to Matthew, the letters mainly rambled and said "crazy things" but Manson did confirm he could be his father.

In one twisted letter he wrote: "The truth is the truth. The truth hurts."

In another note Manson talked about meeting Matthew's mother. He wrote: "I remember her. We came back to LA on the super-cheap train."

And Manson - who grew up without a father figure - even compared his childhood to Matthew's.

He said: "You got the same father I got. A hobo just left on the midnight train and died, lost at sea." Then in a postcard two years ago, addressed to Matthew's birth name Lawrence Alexander, Manson sent his son his prison phone number.

But Matthew has never made the call to his dad.

He says: "There's always a subconscious block.

"What I'm worried about is that you think you're going to meet your birth mother or father and they're going to love you and welcome you with open arms. But he's not that kind of person."

Despite Manson's evil actions, Matthew confesses he now battles confused emotions towards his biological father.

He says: "If I did talk to Charlie on the phone, I would say, 'I truly understand what it's like to be you, more than anyone could ever imagine on so many levels'.

"He's my biological father - I can't help but have some kind of emotional connection. That's the hardest thing of all - feeling love for a monster who raped my mother.

"I don't want to love him, but I don't want to hate him either."