A California appeals court has overruled a decision by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) to deny parole to Leslie van Houten, who has served a half-century in prison for her role in the gruesome Charles Manson murders.
Manson, who was hailed as a hero of the 1960s counterculture, masterminded a series of murders in Los Angeles and died in prison in 2017 at the age of 83, having been denied parole by several governors.
Van Houten, 73, who was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for the stabbing murders of grocer Leno LaBianca and his wife, Rosemary, has reportedly been a model prisoner, and her attorneys have argued that she poses no danger to society.
The three female defendants in the Tate-LaBianca murders, (L-R) Leslie Van Houten, Susan Atkins, and Patricia Krenwinkel, return to their cells.
As the Los Angeles Times notes, the appeals court took issue with Newsom’s reasoning for denying her parole:
Newsom wrote in his denial that there were inconsistencies between Van Houten’s recent statements and those she made during the killings in the summer of 1969, indicating “gaps in Ms. Van Houten’s insight or candor, or both.”