AP News, August 31st, 2007
Leslie Van Houten, the former Charles Manson follower convicted of taking part in a murderous rampage that terrorized Los Angeles 38 years ago, has been denied parole for the 18th time.
The two-year denial issued Thursday by the parole board means Van Houten, 58, must wait until 2009 to petition again for her release. Van Houten, who is serving time at the California Institution for Women in Corona, was last denied parole in September 2006.
"We still feel she's a considerable risk to society," said Patrick Sequeira, a deputy district attorney in Los Angeles County, who attended the hearing. "She hasn't been willing to admit the extent of her participation in the crime."
A phone message left for Van Houten's attorney, Christie Webb, was not immediately returned.
Van Houten was convicted of murder and conspiracy for her role in the slayings of wealthy grocers Leno and Rosemary La Bianca.
The La Biancas were killed 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 Frykowski and Steven Parent, a friend of the Tate estate's caretaker.
Van Houten did not participate in the Tate killings, but went along on the next night when the La Biancas were slain in their home. Prosecutors have said that Van Houten had felt left out of the first night's carnage.
In past hearings, Van Houten has apologized to the victims' families, but the parole board hasn't been swayed.
Thursday's decision marks the 18th time she has lost her chance at freedom, said Bill Sessa, a spokesman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Van Houten, Manson and two other followers of the cult leader were originally sentenced to death, but their sentences were reduced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after California's death penalty was briefly suspended in the 1970s.
