There's no 'family' in 'cult'

Video by: Denny Cristales | Signal Tribune
Perhaps she was brainwashed by a crazed serial killer, or maybe she was under the influence of a combination of intense drugs, but when 19-year-old Leslie Van Houten accompanied cult leader Charles Manson and his followers on that fateful 1969 evening to the LaBianca residence, her decision to participate in their murders was a choice that fundamentally changed her life forever.
The fact remains— Leno and Rosemary LaBianca were killed, and Van Houten did play a part. However, after decades of prison and legal cases, Van Houten was deemed “suitable for release” in September 2017, per decision of the California Board of Parole Hearings.
Rich Pfeiffer, an attorney of over 20 years with his own history of conviction, was instrumental in assisting Van Houten in gaining her parole in September. Now all that remains for her to gain freedom is California Governor Jerry Brown’s final approval.
At a Long Beach Rotary Club meeting at the Queen Mary on Jan. 17, Pfeiffer detailed the legal process of approval for Van Houten, and he feels she has been redeemed by simply distancing herself from the philosophies that encouraged so many in the Manson cult to kill in the first place.
“When Leslie’s mother met with her right after the crimes, Leslie’s mother told her she’s going to pay for this,” Pfeiffer said in his remarks at the luncheon. “Leslie acknowledged that. And, at that point, she immediately started changing her life and started to lead the best life she could.”
It has been documented that the LaBiancas, randomly targeted, were stabbed multiple times in their home while they were asleep. In various reports, Van Houten held down Rosemary as the Manson followers knifed her.
One of the members, Charles “Tex” Watson, handed a knife to Van Houten and instructed her to stab Rosemary’s body. She stabbed Rosemary an estimated 20 times, but various media outlets also report that Rosemary was already dead by the time Van Houten participated.
“There’s so many versions of what happened and who did what— what I was trying to get was the most accurate version,” he said of his discussions with those involved in the killings. “Leslie herself didn’t even know what that was. She’s seen so many movies, books— it was so long ago. It was 50 years ago. It’s hard to decide, ‘Did it happen? Or, did I read that?'”

He claimed the Manson cult— adamantly refusing to call it a “family,” because “it was no family”— took advantage of a young Van Houten at a vulnerable time in her life and manipulated her to participate in the murderous act.
Pfeiffer, who took on her case four years ago, said Van Houten has earned a master’s degree, sustained rehabilitation and assisted a number of inmates during her time in prison with their addictions, by example.
“Every prison staff said she should have been paroled a long time ago,” Pfeiffer added.
Van Houten was in the same situation last year, when the parole board approved her release but was met with rejection by Brown, who said she was “an unreasonable danger to society if released from prison.”
Pfeiffer expects Brown’s decision sometime in February and is confident that Van Houten will be successfully granted parole.
“My job is not done until she walks out of that gate,” he said. “I’ve seen it all. I’ve seen how close people have come to walking out. Normally, when a governor reverses a call of parole, it’s on the last day— right before they are going to go home.”
Her parents have since passed away, but she still has siblings. Pfeiffer said all she wants to do is move on from the fatal mistakes that cost not only the innocent lives of so many in the ’60s, but her own.
“I have a client, who I personally believe is a fantastic person today and made tremendous mistakes in the past,” Pfeiffer said. “[…] The world is a different world now. She’s prepared to enter it. The biggest concern she has is being recognized. She just wants to be a normal person.”