Manson follower Leslie Van Houten granted parole in notorious murders; Brown will make final decision

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Leslie Van Houten, who was convicted along with other members of Charles Manson’s cult in the 1969 killings of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca, was granted parole Wednesday by a panel of state commissioners in Chino.

Gov. Jerry Brown must now once again decide whether to release her from prison after 40 years. Brown rejected release last year.

RELATED: Where are they now? Charles Manson’s family, four decades after horrific murders

Her attorneys argue that she was only 19 when she took part in the crimes and that she has been a model prisoner. But release has been strongly opposed by the families of the victims as well as prosecutors and many others.

A 150-day review process will begin by state officials reviewing the granting of parole.

“If the decision stands, the matter will be sent to office of the Governor who will have 30 days to take one of five options. He may uphold, reverse, or modify the decision,” the state said.

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THE CRIME

She stabbed victim 14 times

The youngest of Manson’s followers, Van Houten has been considered the least blameworthy member of the group and has been portrayed by supporters as a misguided teen under the influence of LSD on the night of the slayings.

A former homecoming queen from Monrovia, she did not join in the Aug. 9, 1969, murders of Sharon Tate, the pregnant wife of film director Roman Polanski, and four others at the Benedict Canyon home that Tate was renting.

But the following day, Van Houten was part of a group that stormed into the LaBiancas’ home in Los Feliz. As Charles “Tex” Watson stabbed Leno LaBianca, Van Houten and another woman held down Rosemary LaBianca.

After Watson stabbed Rosemary LaBianca with a bayonet, he handed a knife to Van Houten. She testified to stabbing Rosemary in the back at least 14 more times. The blood of the victims was used to scrawl messages on the walls, as had been done at the Benedict Canyon home.

IN THE COURTS

A long, winding legal process

Van Houten, Manson and three others were convicted and sentenced to death, but after the California Supreme Court struck down the death penalty, their sentences were commuted to life in prison.

An appellate court overturned Van Houten’s conviction in 1976, and a second trial the following year ended in a hung jury. She was convicted in her third trial in 1978 and sentenced to seven years to life in prison. Starting in 1979, Van Houten has gone before the parole board regularly.

In recent years, Van Houten’s attorneys characterized her as a model inmate, earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees while running self-help groups for incarcerated women. At a 2002 parole board hearing, Van Houten said she was “deeply ashamed” of what she had done, adding: “I take very seriously not just the murders, but what made me make myself available to someone like Manson.”

A two-member California review board had granted parole to Van Houten in April. Before that, Van Houten had been denied parole numerous times by the state parole board since being convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison.

FREEDOM BLOCKED

‘Shocking nature of the crimes left an indelible mark on society’

In recommending release, the board based its decision in part on Van Houten’s age, 19, at the time of the crime, her length of incarceration, lack of violent crime as an adult and her spotless prison record: She has never been disciplined for serious misconduct while behind bars.

But Gov. Brown last year disagreed, saying in his five-page decision that all of these points were outweighed by other “negative factors that demonstrate she remains unsuitable for parole.”

He said the “shocking nature of the crimes left an indelible mark on society” and that the motive — to trigger a race war “by slaughtering innocent people chosen at random — is equally disturbing.”

“Even two years after the murders, when interviewed by a psychologist, Van Houten admitted that, although she had no present desire to kill anyone, she would have no difficulty doing it again,” Brown said in his statement.

In his statement, Brown said it remained unclear how Van Houten had transformed herself from a smart, driven young woman to “a member of one of the most notorious cults in history and an eager participant in the cold-blooded and gory murder of innocent victims.”

At her last parole hearing, she said: “I don’t let myself off the hook. I don’t find parts in any of this that makes me feel the slightest bit good about myself.”

ALSO

Manson follower Patricia Krenwinkel’s bid for freedom denied, despite claims he abused her

Quentin Tarantino could bring the Manson family murders to the big screen

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UPDATES:

4 p.m.: Updated with details about next steps.

3:40 p.m. Updated with parole board decision.

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Texas woman slips off handcuffs, steals cop car, leads officers on high-speed chase

A Texas woman led police officers on a high-speed chase Saturday after slipping out of her handcuffs and driving off in a patrol vehicle, all of which was caught on camera.

Officers from the Lufkin Police Department responded to a 911 call about a possible shoplifter at an Ulta Beauty store on Saturday afternoon. The officers chased down the suspect, 33-year-old Toscha Sponsler of Pollok, and placed her in a patrol vehicle with a seat belt and her hands cuffed behind her back, police said.

While the officers went through the woman’s bags of allegedly stolen goods in the store’s parking lot, a camera inside the patrol vehicle captured Sponsler removing her seat belt, slipping out of the handcuffs and climbing through a window partition into the driver’s seat.

Sponsler took off and led police on a 23-minute pursuit, nearly hitting authorities with the patrol vehicle and reaching speeds up to 100 mph. Throughout the chase, officers could see the woman reaching for the shotgun that was mechanically locked to the car, police said.

The pursuit ultimately ended miles away in Zavalla after a state trooper used a pursuit intervention technique maneuver that made Sponsler lose control of the patrol vehicle. Sponsler waived medical treatment at the scene and was taken to the Angelina County Jail, where she is being held on a collective $18,000 bond, police said.

Cameras from inside the stolen patrol vehicle and on the dashboard as well as police body cameras captured the incident. The Lufkin Police Department posted a mashup of the video footage on Facebook. The video ended showing an officer giving the thumbs up as he installed a “tactical window limitation device,” which police said have now been installed in all marked units.

Lufkin Police Department Assistant Chief David Thomas said an internal review of the incident is ongoing.

“During the initial review we determined that limiting the size of the partition window in its open position could prevent this from occurring in the future if the locking mechanism fails or is not engaged,” Thomas said in a statement Tuesday.

Sponsler is facing charges of escape causing serious bodily injury/threat of a deadly weapon, aggravated assault against a public servant, possession of a controlled substance, evading arrest with a vehicle with a previous conviction and unauthorized use of a vehicle. She has a court-appointed attorney and had not yet entered a plea as of Wednesday, according to the Angelina County District Attorney’s Office.

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