Ex-Charles Manson follower Leslie Van Houten released after serving half-century in prison

DETROIT — Former Charles Manson follower Leslie Van Houten, who was convicted in the double murder of a California couple in 1969, was released from prison Tuesday after serving more than 50 years of a life sentence.

At 19, Van Houten, and other members of what became known as the Manson family, broke into the home of Leno LaBianca, and his wife, Rosemary, in Los Angeles and stabbed them to death. It was a day after five others ― including celebrity hairstylist Jay Sebring and actress Sharon Tate ― were killed.

Van Houten, now 73, “was released to parole supervision,” the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said in a statement. Van Houten was initially sentenced to death for helping Manson’s followers carry out the killings.

But the sentence was reduced to life in prison after the California Supreme Court overturned the state’s death penalty law in 1972. While the death penalty was later reinstated, it did not apply retroactively to her sentence.

Her attorney, Nancy Tetreault, said she was driven to transitional housing Tuesday morning.

The 1969 slayings and subsequent trials captivated the nation during an era of strife marked by the Vietnam War, the Civil Rights Movement and the assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy.

A half-century in prison

Days earlier, California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced he would not fight a state appeals court ruling that Van Houten should be granted parole. He said it was unlikely the state Supreme Court would consider an appeal.

Van Houten was found suitable for parole after a July 2020 hearing, but her release was blocked by Newsom, who maintained she was still a threat to society. She filed an appeal with a trial court, which rejected it, and then turned to the appellate courts.

The Second District Court of Appeal in May reversed Newsom’s rejection of her parole.

Disputing Newsom’s claims against Van Houten, judges said she had shown “extraordinary rehabilitative efforts, insight, remorse, realistic parole plans, support from family and friends, favorable institutional reports, and, at the time of the Governor’s decision, had received four successive grants of parole.”

Judges also said Van Houten had “many years” of therapy and substance abuse counseling. But Newsom’s office said the governor was disappointed by the appeals court decision.

“More than 50 years after the Manson cult committed these brutal killings, the victims’ families still feel the impact,” the governor’s office said in a July 7 statement.