The Conservative Cave
Current Events => General Discussion => Topic started by: Ptarmigan on April 14, 2016, 10:10:48 PM
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Board recommends parole for Charles Manson follower Leslie Van Houten; victim's daughter vows to oppose
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-charles-manson-follower-leslie-van-houten-seeks-parole-for-1969-slaying-20160413-story.html
A California review board recommended parole Thursday for former Charles Manson family member Leslie Van Houten, who was convicted in the 1969 killings of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca.
The decision was issued following a hearing earlier in the day at the California Institution for Women in Chino. Van Houten has been denied parole 19 times since she was convicted of murder in the deaths of Leno LaBianca, a wealthy grocer, and his second wife at their Los Feliz home.
After the ruling is reviewed by the parole board's legal team, it will be forwarded to Gov. Jerry Brown, who could decide to block Van Houten’s release. A spokesman for the governor said Thursday it would be premature to comment on the case.
Leslie can Houten should rot in prison until she dies.
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I have seen documentaries on her life behind bars. She seems to have vastly changed and also accepted her role in the murders she committed. I have no issue with the state of California showing her mercy.
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Her original sentence was death, but a USSC ruling a year later changed all CA (and other states', I believe) death sentences to life. I think that's sufficient mercy. I bear no animus toward her, realize she's in her 70s, and that her crime was nearly 50 years ago. I'm sure she'd like to live her last however many years with family/friends. I'm sure the LaBiancos would have liked to have done so as well.
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I can't believe I'm going to say this but she's been up for parole 20 times right? Is she being unfairly denied just because of the notoriety of the crime?
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Her original sentence was death, but a USSC ruling a year later changed all CA (and other states', I believe) death sentences to life. I think that's sufficient mercy. I bear no animus toward her, realize she's in her 70s, and that her crime was nearly 50 years ago. I'm sure she'd like to live her last however many years with family/friends. I'm sure the LaBiancos would have liked to have done so as well.
What she has done is irrelevant when it comes to mercy. Mercy is granted for the sake of mercy and not on some preconceived notion of merit. No one deserves mercy because then it wouldn't be mercy but a reward. I think of the mercy God showed me as a rebellious sinner who did not deserve grace. Van Houten and I were both in a prison of our own making. Both sentences were life. However, God showed me mercy and freed me so now I try to use His actions as a guide to my actions.
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I would be conflicted and try to figure out what is a greater virtue, justice or mercy? It might be an injustice to the family of the victims and God himself given she's committed the worse crime by taking someone's life by showing her mercy. The fact that she's still alive and being taken care of is pretty merciful. She dragged Rosemary Labianca into the bedroom, covered her head with a pillow while someone else stabbed her repeatedly, and then was handed a knife, and stabbed LaBianca 12 or 16 times.....