California: The California Supreme Court denied a request on Wednesday to hold a hearing in the parole case of Leslie Van Houten who, as a follower of cult leader Charles Manson, took part in one of the most notorious mass murders of the 20th century.
California Governor Jerry Brown overturned a California Board of Parole recommendation to release Van Houten in July, saying she was an “unreasonable danger to society,” four decades after she was convicted and sentenced to life for the murders of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca.
In a petition to the state’s Supreme Court, her attorney Rich Pfeiffer said Van Houten believed the governor did not have evidence that she remained a risk to the public, the City News Service in Los Angeles reported.
The Supreme Court denied the petition for review, according to an entry on the court’s online case database. Pfeiffer was not immediately available for comment. Van Houten was found guilty of the LaBianca murders in 1971 and sentenced to death, but that conviction and sentence were overturned on appeal.
