Leslie Van Houten, a former member of the “Manson family,” has been granted parole after serving more than 50 years of a life sentence for her involvement in two brutal murders. The 73-year-old Van Houten participated in the killing of a Los Angeles grocer and his wife in 1969 when she was 19 years old.
Van Houten, who was the youngest Manson follower to be convicted of murder, held down Rosemary LaBianca while someone else stabbed her during the killings that occurred shortly after the infamous murders of actress Sharon Tate and four others. She later admitted to stabbing the woman after she was already dead.
After being denied parole multiple times, Van Houten was finally recommended for parole in 2016. However, the recommendations were rejected by California Governors Gavin Newsom and Jerry Brown. The decision was later overturned by a state appeals court.
Van Houten’s lawyer, Nancy Tetreault, stated that she left a women’s prison in California early Tuesday morning and will be on parole for three years. Tetreault explained that Van Houten had spent a significant amount of time detaching herself from the cult mentality and accepting responsibility for her crimes, undergoing years of therapy and feeling deep remorse.
Charles Manson, the leader of the cult, orchestrated a series of nine murders with the aim of inciting a race war. Van Houten’s release comes after Manson’s death in 2017 while serving his own life sentence.
Van Houten earned both a bachelor’s and master’s degree during her time in prison and worked as a tutor for other inmates. Now that she is out of prison, she is expected to spend approximately one year at a halfway house to readjust to the vastly different world she re-enters.
Despite her regret and expressed remorse, Van Houten’s release remains a source of disappointment for the families of the victims. The impact of the Manson cult’s brutal killings still resonates more than 50 years later.
SOURCE: Ref Image from New York Post
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