Manson Family Member Leslie Van Houten's Release From Prison Won't Be Blocked

Leslie Van Houten has been imprisoned for 53 years.

By Andrew Roberts

Manson family member Leslie Van Houten's parole will go through as it fell, with the infamous murderer's earlier ruling going unchallenged by California Governor Gavin Newsom. According to TMZ, Newsom's office released a statement on the decision on Friday and confirmed he would not challenge the appeal, opening the path for the 73-year-old to get released from prison.

Van Houten was convicted as part of the Leno and Rosemary LaBianca murders in 1969 and has been behind bars for 53 years. Despite the statement, Newsom didn't seem happy to pass on fighting the parole, with the statement noting he was "disappointed" by the events.

"More than 50 years after the Manson cult committed these brutal killings, the victims' families still feel the impact, as do all Californians. Governor Newsom reversed Ms. Van Houten's parole grant three times since taking office and defended against her challenges of those decisions in court," the statement reads. "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. The California Supreme Court accepts appeals in very few cases, and generally does not select cases based on this type of fact-specific determination."

Van Houten will be only the second member of the Manson Family convicted of murders to be released from prison following Steve "Clem" Grogan in 1985. The state appeals court ruled in May that the convicted murderer should be released due to her "extraordinary rehabilitative efforts, insight, remorse" and a solid plan for after prison. "She's thrilled and she's overwhelmed," Van Houten's lawyer Nancy Tetreault said. "She's just grateful that people are recognizing that she's not the same person that she was when she committed the murders."

Van Houten was initially sentenced to be executed after her conviction alongside the other members of the Manson Family. She was the youngest woman ever condemned to death, and no death row for female inmates existed at the time. Her sentence was later commuted to life in prison after California invalidated death sentences imposed before 1972. Governor Jerry Brown and Newsom both vetoed Van Houten's parole recommendations five times since 2016.

Not everything is settled for Van Houten and she isn't free officially just yet. Once released she'll have to spend a year in a halfway home, learn basic life skills and move on with her plans. "She's been in prison for 53 years. ... She just needs to learn how to use an ATM machine, let alone a cell phone, let alone a computer," Tetreault said.

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