JULY 12, 2023:
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Charles Manson follower Leslie Van Houten has been released from a California prison after serving more than 50 years of a life sentence for two infamous killings. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said Tuesday (July 11, 2023) that Van Houten “was released to parole supervision.” Her release comes days after Gov. Gavin Newsom announced he would not fight a state appeals court ruling that Van Houten should be granted parole. Van Houten was convicted in 1971 of helping Manson’s followers carry out the 1969 killings of Leno LaBianca, a grocer in Los Angeles, and his wife, Rosemary.
MAY 31, 2023:
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A California appeals court says Charles Manson follower Leslie Van Houten should be released from prison on parole. The Tuesday (May 30, 2023) ruling goes against Gov. Gavin Newsom’s decision to reject Van Houten’s request for parole. Newsom’s administration did not respond to questions on Wednesday about whether it plans to ask the state Supreme Court to intervene. Van Houten was 19 when she participated in two killings alongside Manson and other Manson followers in 1969. She has been in prison for more than five decades. Parole boards have recommended five times that she be released, but governors including Newson have rejected each one of those recommendations.
MARCH 30, 2022:
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday (March 29, 2022) blocked parole for Charles Manson follower Leslie Van Houten, reversing a panel’s recommendation that she be freed after spending a half-century in prison. Newsom on Tuesday said that the 72-year-old Van Houten “poses an unreasonable danger to society” if released. Her attorney disputes that and says he will appeal the decision in court. Van Houten is serving a life sentence for helping Manson and other cult members kill Los Angeles grocer Leno LaBianca and his wife, Rosemary, in 1969. Newsom and former Gov. Jerry Brown have rejected parole board recommendations to free her five times since 2016.
NOVEMBER 10, 2021:
SACRAMENTO, Calif (AP) — A California parole panel has recommended for the fifth time that Charles Manson follower Leslie Van Houten be freed from prison. Her release has been blocked twice by then-Gov. Jerry Brown and twice by Gov. Gavin Newsom. Tuesday’s recommendation is likely headed back to Newsom after a 120-day procedural review. The 72-year-old is serving a life sentence for helping Manson and other cult members kill Los Angeles grocer Leno LaBianca and his wife, Rosemary, in 1969. The slayings came the day after other Manson followers, but not Van Houten, killed pregnant actress Sharon Tate and four others.
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