(CNN) — California Governor Gavin Newsom’s office announced Friday that it will not challenge the May state appeals panel’s ruling that opened up the possibility of parole for Leslie Van Houten, a former Charles Manson follower and convicted murderer.
Van Houten is serving concurrent sentences of seven years to life in prison after she was convicted in 1971 for her role in the murders of supermarket executive Leno LaBianca and his wife, Rosemary, in their home.
“More than 50 years after the Manson Cult committed these brutal crimes, the families of the victims are still feeling the impact, as are all Californians. Governor Newsom has revoked Ms. Van Houten’s parole grant three times since she took office and has defended her challenges of those decisions in court,” Erin Mellon, the governor’s spokeswoman, said in a statement Friday. .
“The Governor is disappointed by the Court of Appeal’s decision to release Ms. Van Houten, but will take no further action as further appeal efforts are unlikely to be successful. The California Supreme Court accepts appeals in very few cases and generally does not select cases based on this type of fact-finding,” the statement added.
Leslie Van Houten attends a parole hearing in 2017 in Corona, California. (Stan Lim/AP)
Van Houten and his team are “thrilled” by the announcement, Nancy Tetreault, Van Houten’s attorney, told CNN.
“She’s just grateful that her rehabilitation, her hard work to reform her thinking, understanding the causal factors that led to her being influenced by Manson… She’s grateful that the appeals court recognizes that,” Tetreault said.
Van Houten will remain on probation pending a final behavior hearing, with the exact date being kept confidential for his safety, according to Tetreault.
CNN has reached out to the California Board of Parole Hearings for comment.
Van Houten was initially sentenced to death
Van Houten, now 70, was 19 when he met Manson and joined the murderous cult that came to be called the “Manson Family.”
The brutal murders began on August 9, 1969 at the home of actress Sharon Tate and her husband, famed film director Roman Polanski. He was out of the country at the time. The first victims were Tate, who was eight months pregnant; a celebrity hairstylist named Jay Sebring; heiress to the coffee fortune Abigail Folger; the writer Wojciech Frykowski; and Steven Parent, a friend of the family’s caretaker.
The following night, the LaBiancas were stabbed to death in their home.
Although Manson ordered the murders, he did not kill anyone.
Van Houten, along with Manson and his followers Charles “Tex” Watson, Susan Atkins, and Patricia Krenwinkel, were indicted in December 1969 for the murders of Tate, their friends, and the LaBianca murders.
Following her conviction, Van Houten was sentenced to death, but the death penalty was later abolished in California, and her sentence was commuted to life in prison. She first became eligible for parole in 1977.
Krenwinkel was denied parole again in 2022. According to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation hearing schedule, he has a hearing scheduled for November 17.
Watson has been denied parole 18 times and will be eligible again in 2026. Atkins died in prison in 2009. Manson died in 2017 at age 83.
