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Unlike the others, Van Houten was not accused of the murders of Tate and her friends.
#Vans 2020 encore og trial
Manson was accused of orchestrating both attacks, but the only defendants at the trial whose murder charges were for actually inflicting injuries on the LaBiancas were Van Houten and Krenwinkel. Tex Watson, who had shot or stabbed all of the victims at the Tate and LaBianca murders and who inflicted most of the fatal or non-survivable injuries, was not arraigned with the others at the main 'Manson' trial, which covered both the Tate and LaBianca murders. The racial nature of the motive for the murders Van Houten was convicted of was later adduced by a judge, increasing the gravity of her offense. Prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi suggested Manson was attempting to start a racial civil war. Manson, who denied responsibility, never explained a motive for the murders. See also: Manson Family § Possible murder motives, and Helter Skelter (scenario) When Barbara Hoyt spoke at Van Houten's parole hearing in 2013, she said that Van Houten was considered a "leader" in the Manson Family. According to Van Houten she and other Manson followers looked to 14-year-old Family member Dianne Lake as the "empty vessel", the epitome of what women were supposed to be in the Manson system of values. Van Houten said Manson's attitude was that she "belonged to Bobby". At every meal he would lecture repetitively. At the remote ranch, where they were isolated from any other influences, Manson's was the only opinion heard.
#Vans 2020 encore og free
Manson ostensibly ran his Family based on hippie-style principles of acceptance and free love. įrom August 1968, Manson and his followers were based at the Spahn Ranch. Of no thought." According to Van Houten, she became "saturated in acid" and could not grasp the existence of those living a non-psychedelic reality. According to Manson, "When you take LSD enough times, you reach a state of nothing. He also controlled the taking of LSD, giving followers larger doses than he himself took. Manson decided when they would eat, sleep, and have sex, and with whom they would have sex. At this time, she phoned her mother to say she was dropping out and would not be making contact again.
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Van Houten, then aged 19, followed Share. The four broke up after jealous arguments, and Share left to join Charles Manson's commune. Van Houten attended Monrovia High School in Monrovia, California, where she was a Homecoming Princess in 1966.Īfter a few months in a commune in Northern California, Van Houten met Catherine Share and Bobby Beausoleil and moved in with them and another woman during the summer of 1968. She had a period of interest in yoga and took a year-long secretarial course, but became a hippie, living at a commune. Van Houten stated that after this event, she felt very removed from her mother and harbored intense anger toward her. She said that later at age 17, she became pregnant and was ordered by her mother to undergo an abortion and to bury the aborted fetus in their backyard. She began taking LSD and Benzedrine, and smoking hashish around age 15, running away for a time, but returning to complete high school. Her mother and father divorced when she was 14. She grew up in a middle-class churchgoing family along with an older brother and two adopted siblings, a brother and a sister, who were Korean. She is of Irish, English, Scottish, Dutch, and German descent. Van Houten was born on Augin the Los Angeles suburb of Altadena to Paul Van Houten and Jane (née Edwards). At her third trial in 1978, she was convicted of two counts of murder and one count of conspiracy and sentenced to seven years to life in prison. Her second trial ended with a deadlocked jury and a mistrial. Her conviction was then overturned in a 1976 appellate court decision which granted her a retrial. Anderson then ruled in 1972 that the death penalty was unconstitutional, resulting in her sentence being commuted to life in prison.
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However, the California Supreme Court decision on People v. She was convicted and sentenced to death. Van Houten was arrested and charged in relation to the 1969 killings of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca. During her time with Manson's group, she was known by various aliases such as Louella Alexandria, Leslie Marie Sankston, Linda Sue Owens and Lulu. Leslie Louise Van Houten (born August 23, 1949) is an American convicted murderer and former member of the Manson Family. Louella Alexandria, Leslie Marie Sankston, Linda Sue Owens and Luluĭeath, commuted to life imprisonment with parole
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