People v. Van Houten

I

Leslie Van Houten was convicted in 1971 of two counts of murder and one count of conspiracy to commit murder, along with codefendants, Charles Manson, Patricia Krenwinkel and Susan Atkins. After the penalty phase, the same jury imposed death sentences upon all defendants. The resulting judgment was appealed directly to the Supreme Court, and while the case was pending, the Supreme Court decided People v. Anderson (1972) 6 Cal.3d.628 [ 100 Cal.Rptr. 152 , 493 P.2d 880 ], invalidating the death penalty. The appeals were then transferred to the Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District, Division One. In that case, People v. Manson (1976) 61 Cal.App.3d 102 [ 132 Cal.Rptr. 265 ], the Court of Appeal reversed the judgment of conviction of appellant Van Houten and affirmed the judgments as to the other defendants.

Pursuant to the remittitur filed on December 10, 1976, reversing the judgment of conviction, the matter was retried by a jury. The jury was hopelessly deadlocked and a mistrial was declared.

Appellant was retried by a jury. Appellant was found guilty as charged of two counts of first degree murder arising out of the murder of Rosemary and Leño La Bianca, and…