(CNN) -- Leslie Van Houten, a member of the notorious Manson family, goes before a California state parole board Tuesday for the 19th time since she began serving a life sentence for murder, her attorney told CNN.
Lawyer Brandie Devall said she's "excited" about the appearance because she can bolster her argument with rulings in two cases from the California Supreme Court since Van Houten's last parole hearing in 2007. Each case was recently upheld by federal courts.
Van Houten has been imprisoned at the California Institution for Women at Frontera for more than three decades, following her final conviction on first-degree murder charges in 1978 that carried a life sentence.
Prison spokesman Lt. Robert Patterson told CNN in 2009 that Van Houten is a model inmate involved in prison programs and a mentor to other inmates in the facility's college program. Devall, who has been representing Van Houten for just under a year, said Tuesday the "fact that Leslie has had good reports since 1978" should help persuade the parole board to release her.
Devall said during Tuesday's hearing, she plans to cite the case of Sandra Lawrence, a convicted murderer who was released in 2007 after more than 20 years in prison. The California Supreme Court decided that if an eligible parolee has spent enough time on rehabilitation and reform, the panel has the burden of proving that the inmate poses a current threat to public safety and should not base its decision on what happened decades earlier.
In addition, Devall will use the case of Richard Shaputis, who was sentenced to 15 years to life following his 1987 conviction for second-degree murder -- and remains behind bars. Devall says in that case, the court found that parole boards should give significant consideration to psychologists' reports regarding whether inmates have demonstrated acceptance of responsibility, insight and understanding of their crimes, as Van Houten has.
According to prosecutors, Van Houten -- who went by "Lulu" as one of Charles Manson's followers -- helped hold down Rosemary LaBianca while other Manson family members stabbed LaBianca and her husband Leno LaBianca to death in 1969.
Van Houten told CNN's "Larry King Live" in 2002 that she herself stabbed Rosemary LaBianca 16 times. Van Houten was 19 at the time.
"The autopsy reports have shown that it was Tex (Charles "Tex" Watson) that wielded the fatal wounds, but I contributed, and I attempted to hold her down for Pat (Krenwinkel)," Van Houten told King. "I called to Tex because we couldn't kill her. You know, it's -- morally, I feel as though I did".
Van Houten, along with Manson, Krenwinkel, and Susan Atkins, were all found guilty of murder and conspiracy to commit murder and sentenced to death in 1971.
But Van Houten's original conviction was overturned in 1976, on the grounds that a judge erred in not granting a mistrial after her attorney, Ronald Hughes, disappeared and later was found dead.
In Van Houten's first retrial, the jury was unable to reach a verdict and she was released on bond for a few months. But in her third trial, in 1978, she was convicted of first-degree murder.
During her 1994 CNN appearance, Van Houten told King the Manson family's lifestyle attracted her.
"I met these people. They said that they came from a commune in L.A. where they lived for the day and for the moment, and it was a lot of the (Timothy) Leary kind of philosophy of 'Be here now'".
Van Houten called Manson "an opportunist of the cruelest, most vicious kind," but she was quick to emphasize that she accepts blame for her role in the crimes.
Devall, who specializes in parole hearings and the appeals that follow, says these hearings typically take 3 hours, but she expects Tuesday's session to last 4-5 hours, with about 45 minutes of deliberation.
