- Leslie Van Houten, a follower of Charles Manson, is expected to be released on parole in the coming weeks, according to her attorney.
- Van Houten, who has been in prison for over 50 years, was convicted of murder in 1971.
- California Governor Gavin Newsom has stated that he will not challenge her release.
After spending over 50 years in prison, Leslie Van Houten, a follower of Charles Manson, is expected to be released on parole in the next few weeks.
In 1971, Van Houten was convicted of the murder of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca when she was 19 years old. Initially sentenced to death along with other members of Manson’s cult, she became the youngest woman in California to be condemned to death.
However, her sentence was later overturned and she was given a term of seven years to life in prison.
In May, an appeals court ruled that Van Houten was eligible for parole after serving more than 50 years behind bars, overturning a previous decision by Governor Gavin Newsom.
While Newsom has previously blocked Van Houten’s release, he announced on Friday that he will not challenge the court’s ruling in the state Supreme Court.
In a statement, Governor’s office spokesperson Erin Mellon said, “The Governor is disappointed by the Court of Appeal’s decision to release Ms. Van Houten but will not pursue further action as efforts to further appeal are unlikely to succeed.”
In August 1969, Van Houten and two other Manson followers stabbed the LaBiancas to death, one day after the murder of actress Sharon Tate and four others by members of the cult.
The Guardian reports that Van Houten has been recommended for parole five times since 2016, but each recommendation has been overturned by former Governor Jerry Brown or Newsom.
“She’s thrilled, and she’s overwhelmed,” said Van Houten’s attorney Nancy Tetreault, as reported by NBC. “She’s just grateful that people are recognizing that she’s not the same person she was when she committed the murders.”
After her release, Van Houten will spend around a year in a halfway house, where she will learn basic life skills such as grocery shopping, according to Tetreault.
“She’s been in prison for 53 years,” the lawyer said. “She just needs to learn how to use an ATM machine, let alone a cell phone, let alone a computer.”
The Manson family, which became a symbol of the counterculture’s disintegration in the 1960s, was responsible for the deaths of nine people, including pregnant actress Sharon Tate.
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