The cousin of the Manson Family’s first victim has criticized cult member Leslie Van Houten’s release as a “psychopath” who cannot be rehabilitated.
Kay Hinman, Gary Hinman’s cousin, poured his contempt at the idea that Leslie Van Houten had shown herself to be a “model prisoner” after her parole on Tuesday.
Van Houten, now 73, She served 53 years to life in prison for her participation in two infamous murders – including the brutal stabbing of Gary Hinman.
I became The youngest member of the “Family” cult after meeting Manson as a lonely and psychotic 19-year-old in Los Angeles.
Kai Hinman said News Nation: “The psychiatrist said in one of her trials that she has a type of schizophrenia that suppresses her emotions, manifests a dark coldness and a sense of alienation, and psychopaths cannot be cured.”
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Now 73, Van Houten – a lonely and mentally damaged 19-year-old from Los Angeles when she met Manson – has served 53 years to life in prison for her participation in two of the infamous murders, and was the youngest member of the “Manson Family” cult.
Gary Hinman – who introduced then aspiring musician Charles Manson to the Beach Boys in the late ’60s – was stabbed to death by Manson’s Bobby Beausoleil in 1969, and would have been 88 if he were alive today
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation confirmed that Mason was “released on parole supervision,” after he escaped a death sentence in the 1970s — when the state’s Supreme Court overturned the death penalty.
Aside from seeing Van Houten and many other killers spared, the move was bolstered by the fact that officials decided to keep parole on the table for death penalty recipients — a decision the victims’ families are now feeling the most after more than 50 years.
“Do you buy any of the argument that Leslie Van Houten was a model prisoner who was fully rehabilitated and not a danger to society?” NewsNation’s Ashley Banfield at one point asks Henman during a five-minute sit-down.
“No, I don’t,” the California senior continues to reply, before offering what she describes as evidence of Van Houten’s lack of humanity — citing a prison interview where she was asked if she felt grief or shame over the death of one of her victims, Rosemary LaBianca.
“In 1976, Leslie was asked if she had any regrets,” the elder recalled.
“Sorry is just a five letter word” was her answer.
Leslie is mentally ill.
At another point, Hinman cites other traits of Van Houten that she considered cursed—such as how unrepentant she appeared during her trial in 1971, as well as her infamous laughter while giving testimony that covered her role in the 1969 killings of a 44-year-old Los Angeles man. and his wife.
“The psychiatrist said in one of her trials that she is the schizophrenic type who suppresses her emotions, exhibiting a dark coldness and a sense of alienation,” says Hinman, adding, “And psychopaths cannot be cured.”
The interview — Hinman’s first televised appearance since a California court approved Van Houten’s fifth parole review — comes less than a day after Hinman told DailyMail.com that Van Houten’s release could open the door for four more cons to be released in the future. related killings.
Speaking EXCLUSIVELY to DailyMail.com, she said: “This opens the door for the other four. I can’t believe the courts would do that — how can they override the governor?”
A 2017 file photo provided by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation shows Charles Manson
The remarks were made by 86-year-old Kay Hinman during an interview Wednesday on NewsNation, which centered around the circumstances surrounding the controversial release of convicted murderer Leslie Van Houten on Tuesday.
The interview — Hinman’s first television appearance since the court approved Van Houten’s fifth parole review — comes less than a day after Hinman told DailyMail.com that Van Houten’s release could open the door to the release of other cons currently serving time for the Manson-related murders.
The statement came shortly after California Governor Gavin Newsom — who has in the past challenged parole for Manson family members — announced his intention not to appeal the state Supreme Court’s decision in a brief statement.
Among Van Houten’s victims were Los Angeles couple Leno and Rosemary LaBianca (above), who were murdered on August 9, 1969, by Van Houten, Manson, and four other accomplices.
Manson – who died in prison in 2017 – led a group of disaffected youth in the 1960s, sending his followers to kill the rich and famous of Los Angeles in 1969.
The statement came shortly after California Governor Gavin Newsom — who has in the past challenged parole for Manson family members — announced his intention not to appeal the state Supreme Court’s decision in a brief statement.
The statement expressed Newsom’s obvious disappointment with the decision.
Posted July 7, it reads: “More than 50 years after the Manson cult committed these brutal killings, the families of the victims are still feeling the impact.”
Speaking to Banfield Wednesday, Hinman — his cousin who introduced Manson, then an aspiring musician, to Brian Wilson and other members of the Beach Boys in 1968 — called the decision “devastating to friends and family.”
She laments: “I worked so hard to keep Manson killers in prison, so this is very disappointing.”
They all got the death penalty, and they left two words out when they abolished the death penalty: “Without parole.”
“Many states put ‘no parole’ in there when they abolished the death penalty, but not California,” she adds.
Van Houten (right) was the youngest of the Manson Family – a white supremacist sect that struck terror into the hearts of millions of Californians during the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Leslie Van Houten, seen being taken to prison in 1977, was originally sentenced to death before being re-sentenced to life in prison after California briefly ended the death penalty
A cop in the car at the home of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca in Los Angeles
Van Houten was convicted of first-degree murder in 1971, and was initially sentenced to death, however, after the California Supreme Court deemed the sentence unconstitutional in 1972, that sentence was reduced to life in prison with eligibility for parole.
After being denied her 13th parole, already in 2008, Van Houten took legal action on the grounds that the decision was made based on evidence from her crimes.
However, she continued not to be recommended for parole until 2016.
Its fifth recommendation, in November 2021, was overturned, like the previous four, and its request for review was denied the following year.
But on May 30, 2023, the Court of Appeal overturned the conditional denial, ruling in Van Houten’s favour.
The decision was made based on “extraordinary rehabilitation efforts, insight, remorse, realistic parole plans, support from family and friends, and favorable institutional reporting. At the time of the governor’s decision, she had received four consecutive parole grants.”
Meanwhile, Hinman’s killer, Bobby Beausoleil, is still being held at the California medical facility in Vacaville for his 1969 murder, which came two weeks after he butchered actress Sharon Tate and six others in home invasions.
Unfortunately, the murders overshadowed Hinman’s death, despite the musician’s unique connection to the mastermind behind the corrupt cult, whom he once called a friend.
A native of Denver, Hinman moved to Los Angeles in the early 1960s and was working toward his Ph.D. in sociology. An intellectual type and quiet artist, he was drawn to the Manson Family through his presence in the now-infamous community scene in the hills above Los Angeles.
Hinman offered both Manson and his future killer—and roommate—Beausoleil guitar lessons, and even declined an invitation to join the family.
In 1969 at the age of 34, he was an observant Buddhist and was planning a religious pilgrimage to Japan, but found himself in the family’s sights after they mistakenly believed he had inherited $30,000 from a deceased family member.
Manson, then in the midst of building his short-lived empire, needed money to fulfill his mission of moving his cult to an underground bunker in Death Valley for an expected race war, after which he would emerge as world leader.
He chose his former roommate Beausoleil and two women he knew to carry on for the other act, Mary Brunner, Manson’s first follower, and Susan Atkins.
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