Leslie Van Houten, once part of the “Manson family” that carried out Charles Manson’s orders in a killing spree that terrorized Los Angeles in 1969, was released from prison on parole on Tuesday after 53 years, her lawyer said.
Her release had been expected after California Governor Gavin Newsom on Friday announced he would give up trying to deny parole for Van Houten, 73, who was serving a life sentence.
In May a California appeals court overruled Newsom and found Van Houten was entitled to parole. The governor could have petitioned the California Supreme Court to review the case but opted against that because “efforts to further appeal are unlikely to succeed,” a spokesperson said.
Van Houten is the first from the Manson family to receive parole stemming from convictions related to seven murders on consecutive nights in August 1969, her attorney Nancy Tetreault said. Van Houten left a prison in the southern California town of Corona on Tuesday and moved into a halfway house in a confidential location where she will stay for a year, Tetreault said.
Read more: Reuters
