Miscarriage Of Justice In Release Of Manson Family's Leslie Van Houten

Tonight, I will be on ABC News 'Nightline with my friend, Debra Tate, sister of slain actress Sharon Tate, to discuss the release from prison Manson family murderer, Leslie Van Houten.

For those of you who may not know of my work in the area of criminal justice, beginning in 1981 I discovered that the parole board had granted Robert F. Kennedy's assassin, Sirhan Sirhan, a parole date at his very first hearing. My friends and I gathered more than 25,000 signatures on a petition I drafted, along with thousands of letters demanding Sirhan's parole be rescinded. I then testified before the parole board as to why his parole should be taken away. The board held a hearing and bowed to the public, and in April, 1982, I was the first private citizen allowed to attend a parole rescission for a life sentence inmate.  The board ruled in our favor.

Following this success, Valerie, the daughter of slain Los Angeles Police officer Ian Campbell, asked for my help in having rescinded the parole date of Gregory Ulas Powell, the murderer of her father in the infamous "Onion Field" case. We were successful at the parole board, at the First District Court of Appeals, and finally the California Supreme Court.

Following this second success, Doris Tate, mother of slain actress, Sharon Tate, contacted me and asked for my help to keep murderer Charles Manson and the rest of the members of his "family" in prison. We submitted more than a million signatures and 80,000 letters demanding that Leslie Van Houten and the rest of the Manson killers remain in prison. We were successful at the time.

Sharon Tate was among the victims of a series of murders committed by Charles Manson and his followers in the foothills around Los Angeles in August 1969. Tate was pregnant at the time and married to movie director Roman Polansky. Manson was convicted of first-degree murder and, after conviction and sentencing, spent the rest of his life in prison. Leslie Van Houten was convicted of first-degree murder for contributing to the deaths of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca. She was sentenced to death, but a 1972 California Supreme Court decision commmuted her sentence to life in prison.

As I'm certain you are all aware, Van Houten was released from prison this week by the California Board of Appeals. 

Tonight, Debra Tate and I will be on ABC's NIghtline to express our outrage at such an action. Debra will obviously be speaking as a sister regarding how this case has affected her and her family. I will be speaking from a common-sense perspective with the idea that government's most important function is that of protecting its citizens. Yet, is it here where government fails miserably. 

The year I was born, 1952, there only 260 homicides in the whole state of California. The year I became involved in criminal just volunteer work, 1980, there were 3,411 murders, which is a more than 1300 percent increase in that period of time. And it doesn't take rocket science to determine that our population didn't increase more than 1300 percent. 

So who is perpetrating these murders? Recidivists....repeaters.

I would hope that good, decent law-abiding people will agree with me that we are sending the wrong message here and that the protection of the population is paramount here. 

I'd appreciate you tuning in tomorrow and encourage anyone who would like to respond to do so by emailing me with your comments.

John Mancino is a security professional and crime victims advocate.