(Leslie Van Houten)
A prison spokeswoman told CNN that Leslie Van Houten, a former follower of Charles Manson and convicted murderer, was released from a California facility on Tuesday.
According to Mary Xjimenez, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Van Houten was freed under parole supervision. According to Xjimenez, Van Houten’s maximum parole period will be three years, with a reassessment of his parole eligibility taking place after the first year.When Van Houten, who is now in her 70s, first encountered Manson, she was 19 years old. She then joined the deadly cult that became known as the “Manson family.”
She was sentenced to concurrent terms of seven years to life in prison after being found guilty in 1971 of murdering supermarket executive Leno LaBianca and his wife, Rosemary, at their Los Angeles home. She was finally freed on Tuesday.
The office of California Governor Gavin Newsom stated on Friday that it would not appeal a state appellate court panel’s decision from May that allowed Van Houten to be considered for parole, paving the way for her release.
Families of the victims, as well as all Californians, are still affected more than 50 years after the Manson group committed these heinous crimes. Since taking office, Governor Newsom has revoked Ms. Van Houten’s parole three times and has defended against her legal challenges of those decisions, according to Erin Mellon, a spokeswoman for the governor.The Court of Appeal’s decision to release Ms. Van Houten disappointed the Governor, but he or she decided against taking any more action because a successful appeal was unlikely. Melton noted that the California Supreme Court rarely accepts appeals and often does not choose cases based on this kind of fact-specific analysis.
Family of famous hairstylist Jay Sebring, who was murdered by the Manson cult in 1969, expressed disagreement with the governor’s office’s choice to not oppose Van Houten ‘s parole.
Anthony DiMaria, Sebring’s nephew, told CNN’s Laura Coates on Tuesday night, “I absolutely have respect for Governor Newsom and the attorney general. But our families adamantly and profoundly disagree with their choice not to appeal.
In one of the most notorious murder sprees in American history, DiMaria referred to Van Houten as a “cold-blooded killer,” and she claimed that her release sets a “dangerous, pernicious precedent.”
Nancy Tetreault, Van Houten’s attorney , told CNN’s John Berman on Tuesday night that her client has undergone “40 years of psych evaluation” in order to be granted release, as well as “courses to confront what she did – to take responsibility for what she did.”
“I can see why… The victims’ families are upset by this and desire retaliation, but that is against the law, Tetreault told Berman. According to the law, she is entitled to parole if she satisfies the requirement that she no longer represents a danger to society.
Tetreault asserted that she is not attempting to establish Van Houten’s innocence but rather focuses on the fact that Van Houten “has to, and has, accepted full responsibility for the crime.”
Van Houten will take part in a program for transitional living after serving 53 years in prison to assist her with job training and teach her how to find a career and support herself, Tetreault said last week.
Tetreault said last week, “If you think about it, she’s never used an ATM or had a cell phone.” The lawyer told CNN that she and her client have talked about the possibility of her feeling overburdened as she returns to regular everyday tasks like going to the grocery store.
According to her lawyer, Van Houten will look for employment that builds on her humanities bachelor’s and master’s degrees, which she obtained while serving a prison sentence. She is currently only adjusting, though.
“She said that she’s just trying to get used to the idea that she’s no longer in prison after all these decades, and just acclimate to her new life outside of prison ,” Tetreault said on Tuesday.since being found guilty, Van Houten received a death sentence; however, since California abolished the death penalty, her sentence was converted to life in prison. She originally qualified for parole in 1977, and after 22 hearings before the board, a California parole board panel first recommended her release in 2016, according to CNN.The state’s governors, however, overturned that judgment five times: three times by Gov. Gavin Newsom and twice by former Gov. Jerry Brown, who emphasized the horrifying nature of the murders and Van Houten’s willing participation.
In a 1994 jail interview with CNN’s Larry King, Van Houten discussed her involvement in the deaths.
Van Houten, who was 19 at the time of the killings, claimed, “I went in and Mrs. LaBianca was laying on the floor and I stabbed her.” “About 16 times in the lower back.”