Former Charles Manson follower Leslie Van Houten was released from prison on Tuesday after serving 53 years behind bars, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. According to her attorney, Van Houten is now in a "transitional living facility."
She was released to parole supervision and "will have a three-year maximum parole term with a parole discharge review occurring after one year," the department said.
Her release comes after California Gov. Gavin Newsom said last week that he wouldn't ask the state's Supreme Court to block her parole.
"Governor Newsom reversed Ms. Van Houten's parole grant three times since taking office and defended against her challenges of those decisions in court," Erin Mellon, communications director for the Office of the Governor, said Tuesday.
Mellon continued, "The Governor is disappointed by the Court of Appeal's decision to release Ms. Van Houten but will not pursue further action as efforts to further appeal are unlikely to succeed. The California Supreme Court accepts appeals in very few cases, and generally does not select cases based on this type of fact-specific determination."
Van Houten was 19 when she participated in the Aug. 10, 1969, murders of Leno LaBianca, a wealthy grocer, and his wife, Rosemary LaBianca, at their Los Angeles home. The LaBiancas were both stabbed to death and the word "war" was carved on Leno LaBianca's stomach.
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Poster Comment:
All perfectly legal in California now...