More more than half a century after a series of murders in Los Angeles, a former supporter of cult leader Charles Manson has been released. The 73-year-old Leslie Van Houten was released on Tuesday under “probation supervision”, said the competent correctional authority. An appeals court had previously ruled that Van Houten was allowed to leave prison. California Governor Gavin Newsom said he was disappointed. At the same time, he had stated that he would not appeal the decision.
In 1969, members of the so-called Manson Family murdered seven people on behalf of their leader Charles Manson. The most famous victim was the heavily pregnant actress Sharon Tate, wife of director Roman Polanski. Van Houten was not involved in this act, but was involved in the murder of businessman Leno LaBianca and his wife.
Governors vetoed it
Van Houten was initially sentenced to death, but after several trials the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. The US judiciary had repeatedly voted in favor of her parole, but the governors of California, first Jerry Brown and then Gavin Newsom, vetoed it.
When Newsom last rejected a clemency petition in 2022, Newsom said Van Houten still posed “too great a danger to society.” His veto was overturned by an appeals court at the end of May. The judges referred to the exemplary behavior of the prisoners and “decades of therapy”. The governor then said he would not appeal the decision.
A Newsom spokeswoman said Saturday the governor was “disappointed with the appeals court’s decision” but would not appeal due to the lack of prospects of success. “The victims’ families “still feel the brutal force, as do all Californians,” she said, referring to the 1969 killings.
Van Houten’s attorney, Nancy Tetreault, said she was “very fortunate” that the release came “so quickly” after the governor’s waiver of appeal. Van Houten will now live for a year in a facility where she will be prepared to return to a world “that has changed a lot in the past five decades,” the lawyer told the AFP news agency.
Accomplice Susan Atkins died of cancer in 2009 after 38 years behind bars. Charles Manson also died in prison in 2017 at the age of 83. Patricia Krenwinkel (75) is still in custody.
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