CA Governor Reverses Decision to Parole Former Manson Follower

LOS ANGELES, CA -- Gov. Jerry Brown has reversed a state parole board's recommendation that former Charles Manson follower Leslie Van Houten be granted parole.

Van Houten, now 68, was granted parole in September, but Brown reversed the decision Friday, because Van Houten "has not wholly accepted responsibility for her role in the violent and brutal deaths" of Rosemary and Leno La Bianca.

Brown also rejected a recommendation in 2016 that Van Houten be granted parole.

Van Houten, now 68, was convicted of murder and conspiracy for participating with fellow Manson family members Charles "Tex" Watson and Patricia Krenwinkel in the Aug. 9, 1969, killings of Leno La Bianca, 44, and his 38-year-old wife, Rosemary, who were each stabbed multiple times in their Los Feliz home.
Manson died Nov. 19, 2017.

The former Monrovia High School cheerleader and homecoming princess did not participate in the Manson family's killings of pregnant actress Sharon Tate and four others in a Benedict Canyon mansion the night before.

A parole board recommended on Sept. 6 that Van Houten be freed following a hearing at the California Institution for Women in Corona.

The decision began a 150-day review process. According to the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, a review of legal issues will be conducted during the first 120 days, and because the recommendation stood, it was sent to Brown, who had 30 days to uphold, reverse or modify the decision, or send it back to the full Board of Parole Hearings for a more thorough review.

--City News Service/Photo: This Sept. 6, 2017 file photo shows Leslie Van Houten at her parole hearing at the California Institution for Women in Corona, Calif. She was convicted of the LaBianca murders. (Stan Lim/Los Angeles Daily News via AP, Pool, File)