Leslie Van Houten is serving a life sentence
+ READ ARTICLEOne of late cult leader Charles Manson‘s youngest followers will remain in prison, after California Gov. Jerry Brown again denied her request for parole.
Leslie Van Houten, now 68, was 19 when she and other members of the Manson “family” killed Rosemary and Leno LaBianca on Aug. 10, 1969, two in a brutal string of murders carried out by the cult that month. Van Houten is currently serving a life sentence for first-degree murder, though she has twice been recommended for parole by the California Board of Parole Hearings, according to the Los Angeles Times.
“Even today, five decades later, Van Houten has not wholly accepted responsibility for her role in the violent and brutal deaths of Mr. and Mrs. LaBianca,” Brown wrote in his parole denial decision, SF Gate reports. “These crimes stand apart from others by their heinous nature and shocking motive.”
Van Houten has been described as a model inmate while in prison, even earning bachelor’s and advanced degrees while behind bars, the Times reports. Van Houten’s requests for parole were denied by the board for decades prior to the two most recent recommendations for release, the paper adds. Under California state law, the governor has the right to overrule the parole board’s decision.
Manson, the mastermind behind the grisly murders, died in November. He was 83.