California Governor Gavin Newsom said Friday that he won’t ask the state Supreme Court to block parole for Charles Manson follower Leslie Van Houten.
The governor’s office said it was unlikely that the state’s high court would consider an appeal of a lower court ruling that Van Houten should be released. That means Van Houten will likely be freed after serving 53 years for participating in the murders of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca, who were killed in 1969 at their Los Feliz home.
The murders came two nights after the murder of actress Sharon Tate and four others in Benedict Canyon. Van Houten did not participate in the Tate mansion killings.
“More than 50 years after the Manson cult committed these brutal killings, the victims’ families still feel the impact,” the statement said.
Van Houten, now in her 70s, was serving a life sentence. She could be freed in two weeks fom the California Institution for Women in Corona, her attorney, Nancy Tetreault, said.
She was recommended for parole five times since 2016, but Newsom and former Gov. Jerry Brown rejected all those recommendations.
Van Houten will be released to a halfway house to learn basic life skills.
“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,” her attorney said.
“My family and I are heartbroken because we’re once again reminded of all the years that we have not had my father and my stepmother with us,” Cory LaBianca, Leno LaBianca’s daughter, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Friday.
“My children and my grandchildren never got an opportunity to get to know either of them, which has been a huge void for my family,” said Cory La Bianca, who is 75.