Charles Manson follower Leslie Van Houten parole recommended by appeals court

A California appeals court has recommended the release of Leslie Van Houten, a well-known member of Charles Mason’s murderous cult who is currently serving a life sentence in California.

The court’s ruling on Tuesday reverses a 2022 decision by California Gov. Gavin Newsom that denied Van Houten’s release, even after the California Board of Parole Hearings recommended it. Since 2016, Van Houten has been recommended for parole five times, only to have her release blocked by Newsom or his predecessor, former Gov. Jerry Brown.

In the 2-1 ruling by the panel from California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal, Associate Justice Helen Bendix wrote that Van Houten has demonstrated “extraordinary rehabilitative efforts, insight, remorse, realistic parole plans, support from family and friends, favorable institutional reports.”

The judges further argued against Newsom’s suggestion that her violent past should spark future concern were she to be released.

“Although the Governor states Van Houten’s historical factors ‘remain salient,’ he identifies nothing in the record indicating Van Houten has not successfully addressed those factors through many years of therapy, substance abuse programming, and other efforts,” according to court documents.

However, the recommendation does not guarantee Van Houten’s freedom. Newsom could still request that California Attorney General Rob Bonta petition the California Supreme Court to stop her release.

Van Houten said she met Manson in the late 60s as she traveled along the California coast. She was just 19 years old when she helped the infamous Manson Family kill Los Angeles grocer Leno LaBianca and his wife, Rosemary, in August 1969. The slayings came the day after other Manson followers — without Van Houten — killed pregnant actress Sharon Tate and four others.

In 1971, she was found guilty of two counts of first-degree murder for the LaBianca stabbings and conspiracy to commit murder in the deaths of Tate, Abigail Folger, Wojciech Frykowski, Steven Parent and Jay Sebring. She was sentenced to death for her crimes, but the sentence was commuted to life in prison with possibility of parole in 1972 after a California Supreme Court decision briefly made capital punishment unconstitutional in the state.

Now 73, Van Houten is currently being held at the California Institution for Women in Corona.

With News Wire Services