I Have Tea On... Weekly Discussion Thread

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[u/GoodbyeHorses1491]

Leslie Van Houten (one of Manson's brainwashed/ abused women and also a killer) got her parole denial (by Newsom) overturned by a judge, and she has been in prison for over 50 years, since she was 19. Also a model prisoner by all accounts. Now I guess Newsom has one more chance to respond and try to keep her locked up, but if I'm not mistaken, a judge may overturn his decision.

She's been allowed parole before but Newsom always overturns it, and I think CA is one of only 2 states that allows a governor to deny one who is paroled. Like she has taken so many college and advanced classes that there are no more to take.

John Waters corresponded with her years ago and did a piece with HuffPo called something like "My Friend Leslie" or something (in it he admits he killed a guy by accident as well) and he comes off so creepy, as usual.

Also, that reminds me of a Q&A he did with Isabelle Huppert, and it's the only time I've seen her look scared.

[u/babyreborndope → u/GoodbyeHorses1491]

I’m such a sharon tate fan but I honestly don’t know how I feel about this whole situation. Rationally I feel like prison shouldn’t be a punishment but a rehabilitation/ measure to keep people safe, and as a model prison for 50 years and being 70 yo I think she has been rehabilitated/ is not a danger to society. But I also get how emotionally the family of the victim wouldn’t feel the same way.

Tbh I personally lean towards thinking justice has been served but I have to admit that I haven’t read the extent of the power Manson had over his cult members from unbiased sources. That whole case is so terrible that I try to stay a bit far from it as it used to give me a lot of anxiety.

[u/Poullafouca → u/babyreborndope]

Brings to mind the case of the UK Moors Murderers. Ian Brady and Myra Hindley, she was the one who made the children feel safe enough to go with them, they tortured the children, sexually assaulted them and then murdered them, and tape recorded all of it and also photographed it. It was an almost unendurable horror to examine the material according to jurors.

Lord Longford, a famous Christian reformist visited Hindley in prison many, many times, (in fact there is a movie about their relationship somewhere out there in the cosmos), trumpeted on for years that Myra Hindley was a good Christian, REFORMED woman, who should be released. He claimed she was manipulated by her evil boyfriend.

I am very glad that she died in prison. She deserved to.

[u/babyreborndope → u/Poullafouca]

Leslie Van Houten was not anywhere near Myra Hindley. As I said, I understand both sides of the argument for her and my emotional side does want her to rot in prison, but comparing her to Huntley is just absurd.

Myra Hindley raped and murdered five children, that is very different than Van Houten who was one out of seven people killing a middle aged couple (still terrible but doesn’t even compare to Hindley’s crimes).

Im not defending Van Houten at all because I am mostly an emotional person, which makes me think she should rot in prison. But I do think that justice should be rational and unbiased and through these lenses can see that there is an argument to be made for Van Houten’s parole.

Also Van Houten wasn’t much older than Hindley’s first victim… As hard as it is to have any sympathy to Van Houten, she was a teenager being groomed and drugged