Leslie Van Houten, a former member of the Manson family who followed Charles Manson’s orders during the 1969 Los Angeles terrorist attack, has been released from prison on parole after 53 years, her lawyer said, reports RTE.
Her release was expected after California Governor Gavin Newsom announced Friday that he would drop his attempt to deny parole to the 73-year-old, who is serving a life sentence.
In May, a California appeals court reversed Mr. Newsom’s decision and found Van Houten eligible for parole.
The governor could have asked the California Supreme Court to reconsider the case, but declined because “efforts to further appeal are unlikely to succeed,” a spokeswoman said, reports RTE.
Van Houten is the first member of the so-called Manson family to be paroled after being convicted of seven murders on consecutive nights in August 1969, her attorney Nancy Tetreault said.
She left a prison in the southern California city of Corona yesterday and moved into a temporary home in an undisclosed location where she will remain for a year, Tetreault said.
“She was a model prisoner from the day she entered prison,” she said, reports RTE.
Van Houten was 19 when the murder occurred, making her the youngest of Manson’s fans.
Manson died in prison in 2017 at the age of 83.
Van Houten was convicted of fatally stabbing grocery store owner Leno LaBianca and his wife Rosemary at their Los Angeles home on August 10, 1969.
The words Death to Pigs” and “Healter [sic] Skelter”, a misspelled reference to a Beatles song, were found smeared with the victims’ blood on walls and refrigerators.
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