California Gov. Gavin Newsom said on Friday that he would not seek the state Supreme Court to block the parole of Charles Manson devotee Leslie Van Houten, clearing the way for him. for her release After serving 53 years in prison for two notorious murders.
In a brief statement, the governor’s office said it was unlikely the state high court would consider appealing the lower court’s decision to release Van Houten.
Newsom said in a statement that he was disappointed.
“More than 50 years after the Manson Cult committed its brutal murders, the victims’ families are still feeling its effects,” the statement said.
Van Houten, now in his 70s, is serving a life sentence for aiding Manson and other followers in the 1969 murders of Los Angeles grocery store owner Reno LaBianca and his wife, Rosemary. .
Van Houten’s attorney, Nancy Tetlow, said she could be released in about two weeks after the parole board reviewed her records and completed the paperwork for her release from the Corona women’s facility in California. said to be sexual.
She has been recommended for parole five times since 2016, but Newsom and former Gov. Jerry Brown Rejected all those recommendations.
But a state appeals court in May noted Van Houten’s “outstanding rehab effort, insight, remorse, realistic parole plan, support from family and friends,” and positive behavior reports while in prison. ruled that he should be released.
“She’s excited and overwhelmed,” Tetlow said.
“She just appreciates people acknowledging that she’s not the same person she was when she committed the murder,” she said.
Tetrow said Van Houten will spend about a year in the halfhouse after his release, learning basic life skills such as how to get to the grocery store and how to get a debit card.
“She’s been in prison for 53 years…just needs to learn how to use an ATM, let alone a cell phone or a computer,” her lawyer said.
Van Houten and other Manson followers are murdered labianca In August 1969, he woke up in his home, smearing blood on the walls. Van Houten later said he held his girlfriend Rosemary LaBianca over her head with her pillowcase and stabbed the woman more than a dozen times after others stabbed her.
“My family and I are heartbroken as we revisit the years of not being with my father and stepmother,” Leno LaBianca’s daughter Cory LaBianca said in a phone interview Friday. told a phone interview.
75-year-old Cory LaBianca said: “Neither my children nor my grandchildren had a chance to get to know each other. It was a huge void in our family.”
The LaBianca murder took place the day after Manson followers killed four people, including actress Sharon Tate. Van Houten did not participate in the Tate murder.
manson Died in prison in 2017 After spending nearly half a century in prison, he died of natural causes at the age of 83.
