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Charles Manson follower Leslie Van Houten walked out of a California prison Tuesday after serving 53 years of a life sentence for her participation in two infamous murders. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said Van Houten 'was released to parole supervision.' Her release comes days after Gov. Gavin Newsom announced he would not fight a state appeals court ruling that Van Houten should be granted parole. .....

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Manson family killer Leslie Van Houten's recent whiff of freedom will not be snuffed out by California Gov. Gavin Newsom ... he says he won't block her upcoming parole. Newsom's office announced the decision in a Friday afternoon news dump, saying the governor would not challenge an earlier appeals court decision clearing the way for Van Houten's release.

A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge on Friday refused to overturn Gov. Jerry Brown’s decision denying parole to former Charles Manson follower and convicted killer Leslie Van Houten. In his ruling, Judge William C. Ryan said there was “some evidence” to support Brown’s decision in refusing to release Leslie Van Houten, 68, who in 1971 was found guilty of taking part in the brutal killings of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca in Los Angeles. If released, Ryan found that Van Houten “would pose an unreasonable risk of danger to society.” Ryan said the brutal and terrorizing manner in which Van...

The youngest of Manson's followers, Van Houten has been considered the least blameworthy member of the group and has been portrayed by supporters as a misguided teen under the influence of LSD on the night of the slayings. A former homecoming queen from Monrovia, she did not join in the Aug. 9, 1969, murders of Sharon Tate, the pregnant wife of film director Roman Polanski, and four others at the Benedict Canyon home that Tate was renting. But the following day, Van Houten was part of a group that stormed into the LaBiancas' home in Los Feliz. As Charles "Tex"...

It’s hard to believe it has been almost fifty years since the infamous Tate-LaBianca murders of 1969. Unfortunately, we are reminded of these murders on too regular a basis. They were again in the news recently when Gov. Brown overruled the parole board’s recommendation to release Leslie Van Houten, one of several Manson Family members convicted of murder. Good call -- she is where she belongs. If you lived in southern California at the time, you likely have strong memories of those events. It was an unusually hot August that year, when the Tate murders hit the news. Six people...

California Gov. Jerry Brown denied parole for the youngest follower of murderous cult leader Charles Manson who is serving a life sentence for killing a wealthy grocer and his wife more than 40 years ago. Brown overturned the recommendation of a parole board on Friday that found Leslie Van Houten was no-longer the violent young woman who committed a gruesome murder and was now fit for release. She has completed college degrees and been a model inmate. The Democratic governor acknowledged her success in prison and her youth at the time of the murders. However, he wrote in his decision...

Sharon Tate's sister Debra has handed in a petition with 139,000 signatures on it to California governor Jerry Brown, appealing to him to intervene in the parole release of a Charles Manson follower. The actress was murdered by Manson's gang at the age of 26 in August 1969. Tate, who was eight months pregnant by film director husband Roman Polanski, was one of seven people killed in two separate massacres.

A parole board on Wednesday rejected Manson family member Leslie Van Houten's 19th attempt to win freedom. The board also decided she could not seek parole again for five years. Van Houten, 63, was convicted of murder and conspiracy in the 1969 killings of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca in their home in Los Feliz. She has repeatedly been denied bids for parole over the last four decades. “Given the brutality of the murders of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca and Van Houten’s willing and active participation in this evil, pre-planned and violent crime, we are pleased with the parole board’s decision...

CHINO, Calif. — A parole board has denied freedom for Charles Manson follower Leslie Van Houten for the 19th time. Van Houten was convicted of murder and conspiracy in the August 1969 slayings of wealthy grocers Leno and Rosemary La Bianca. That was one night after actress Sharon Tate and four others were killed. Van Houten did not participate in the Tate slayings. She was incarcerated at the California Institution for Women at Frontera, the same prison where another Manson follower, Patricia Krenwinkle, is imprisoned. Susan Atkins, the third woman convicted of murder in the crimes directed by cult leader...

CHINO, Calif. (KABC) -- She was convicted in one of the most notorious murder cases in Los Angeles history, and on Tuesday, former Charles Manson follower Leslie Van Houten faces her 19th parole hearing. It may be her best chance yet for release. She was just 19 when she joined members of the Manson cult in the killings of Leno and Rosemary La Bianca.

Leslie Van Houten, the one-time Charles Manson follower long seen as the most likely of his ex-acolytes to win freedom someday, faces her 19th parole hearing with a new lawyer and new case law which may give her the best chance yet for release. Even if there is a finding of suitability for parole at Tuesday's hearing, freedom would not be immediate. The entire state parole board would review the decision within 120 days and it would then be submitted to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for a final ruling. Van Houten, 60, remains incarcerated at the California Institution for Women at...

CORONA, Calif. -- Leslie Van Houten, the former Charles Manson follower convicted of taking part in a murderous rampage that terrorized Los Angeles 38 years ago, was denied parole Thursday for the 18th time. The two-year denial issued by the parole board means Van Houten, 58, must wait until 2009 to petition again for her release. Van Houten, who is serving time at the California Institution for Women in Corona, was last denied parole in September 2006. "We still feel she's a considerable risk to society," said Patrick Sequeira, a deputy district attorney in Los Angeles County, who attended the...

Manson Family Member Van Houten Loses Parole Bid LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A California prison board on Wednesday refused for the 15th time to parole Leslie Van Houten, a Charles Manson disciple who was sentenced to life behind bars for her role in the sensational cult murders. Van Houten, now 55 and serving her sentence at the California Institution for Women in Frontera, was rejected in her bid for parole despite a tearful apology for her part in the grisly 1969 crimes. (snip) The former homecoming princess admitted to holding down Rosemary LaBianca while two other Manson followers, Charles "Tex"...