Leslie Van Houten

Former "Manson family" member Leslie Van Houten suffered a crushing setback Thursday when a parole board unanimously rejected her request for freedom for a seventh time and told her not to reapply for another three years. Van Houten, 37, convicted in the savage 1969 slayings of Rosemary and Leno La Bianca, had been told by state Board of Prison Terms panel Chairman Rudolph Castro at a hearing two years ago that she was "much closer than she might realize" to obtaining a release date.

After a grueling six-hour hearing, former Manson "family" member Leslie Van Houten was denied parole Friday for the sixth time for the gory 1969 killings of Rosemary and Leno LaBianca. "The savagery displayed goes beyond description," Rudolph Castro, chairman of the three-member Board of Prison Terms panel, said of the crime in announcing the decision at the California Institution for Women here.

Former Manson family member Leslie Van Houten, serving a life prison term for the brutal 1969 slayings of Rosemary and Leno La Bianca, was denied parole Wednesday for the fifth time. However, the chairman of the three-member panel that rejected her request said the release of Van Houten, 35, "is much closer than she might realize," because of her flawless disciplinary record in prison. Over the objection of Los Angeles County Deputy Dist. Atty.

A fifth bid for parole by former Charles Manson follower Leslie Van Houten was rejected today by a parole board that said her crime of murder "literally shocked the conscience of our society." Board member Rudolph Castro said that despite her decision to remain mute during the hearing on advice of her attorney, the board will consider her request again in one year and implied the results could be more favorable.