"SORRY IS ONLY A FIVE-LETTER WORD" -LESLIE VAN HOUTEN

"To tell you the truth, the older I get the harder it is to deal with all of this, to know what I did, how it happened" -Leslie Van Houten to parole panel, September 6, 2017

"No member of the Manson family deserves parole, ever," -Louis Smaldino, La Bianca family member

Literally fueled by sex, drugs and rock 'n roll, devotees of Charles Manson on two hot summer nights in August of 1969, descended on the homes of their unsuspecting victims, killing everyone inside. By the time it was over 8 innocent people (including actress Sharon Tate's 8-month unborn child) had been shot, stabbed and brutalized in a bloodbath that sent a shock wave of horror through the lives of Southern Californians, and eventually, the world.

On the second night, when the murders of Leno and Rosemary La Bianca were committed, a different member of the "Manson Family" showed up to do her master's bidding. She had not been personally picked by Manson to go that night, but she asked to join in anyway. Tripping on LSD and proving to her beloved Charlie that she was a worthy acolyte, the 19-year old runaway helped Tex Watson and Patricia Krenwinkle kill Rosemary La Bianca by stabbing her over 12 times.

Now, 48 years later, the 68-year old convicted murderess, Leslie Van Houten, is once more up for parole in the State of California. Amazingly, the panel who heard Van Houten's case recommended she be released this time because of "model behavior". The case was then thrown in the lap of  the liberal democrat Governor of California, Jerry Brown. "Moonbeam", as his then girlfriend in 1979, singer Linda Ronstadt called him, has until the end of the year to make a decision whether or not to uphold the recommendation or send Van Houten back into the prison system.

Brown has been an ardent opponent of the death penalty (which had been abolished at the time of the Manson Family trial and conviction) for many years and leans towards other "soft" stances on social behavior. Will he refuse or accept Van Houten's recommendation for parole? Or, will he stick a wet finger up in the air to see which way the wind is blowing? Let's hope the direction of the wind carries with it the stench of blood, brains and entrails and the sound of helpless screams as a remembrance of heinous crimes that should never be forgotten... nor forgiven.

To put this all into context, following is the first part of an article on the Manson Family murders from REAL CRIME #29.