After over 50 years of serving a life sentence for her role in two notorious murders, Leslie Van Houten, a follower of Charles Manson, was released from a California prison on Tuesday.
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation stated that Van Houten “was released to parole supervision.”
In the early hours of the morning, she left the California Institution for Women in Corona, situated east of Los Angeles, and was taken to transitional housing, as confirmed by her attorney Nancy Tetreault.
“She’s still processing the fact that this is real,” Tetreault told The Associated Press.
A few days prior, Governor Gavin Newsom declared that he would not contest a state appeals court ruling granting Van Houten parole, as he believed that the state Supreme Court was unlikely to consider an appeal.
According to her attorney, she is expected to spend approximately one year in a halfway house, where she will learn basic skills like driving, grocery shopping, and managing a debit card.
“She needs to learn how to use the internet and make cashless purchases,” said Tetreault. “The world has changed significantly since she was incarcerated.”
Once on parole, which is likely to last around three years, Van Houten hopes to secure employment as soon as possible. During her time in prison, she obtained both a bachelor’s and master’s degree and worked as a tutor for other inmates.
In her 70s now, Van Houten received a life sentence for her involvement in the August 1969 murders of Leno LaBianca, a grocer in Los Angeles, and his wife Rosemary.
The LaBiancas were killed in their home, and their blood was smeared on the walls afterward. Van Houten recounted restraining Rosemary LaBianca with a pillowcase over her head while others stabbed her, before proceeding to stab her herself more than a dozen times.
These slayings occurred the day after Manson’s followers murdered actress Sharon Tate and four others. Although Van Houten was 19 at the time, she did not participate in the Tate killings.
In July 2020, Van Houten was deemed suitable for parole during a hearing. However, her release was blocked by Newsom, who believed she still posed a threat to society. She appealed to a trial court, but her plea was rejected, leading her to turn to the appellate courts.
In May, the Second District Court of Appeal overturned Newsom’s decision, in which he denied Van Houten parole in 2020. Since 2016, she had been recommended for parole on five occasions, all of which were rejected by Newsom or former Governor Jerry Brown.
Newsom’s office expressed disappointment with the appeals court ruling.
“More than 50 years after the Manson cult committed these brutal killings, the victims’ families still bear the impact,” stated the governor’s office in a July 7 release.
Charles Manson passed away in prison in 2017 at the age of 83 due to natural causes, after spending almost fifty years behind bars.
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