FILE - Leslie Van Houten attends her parole hearing at the California Institution for Women Sept. 6, 2017 in Corona, Calif. A California appeals court says Charles Manson follower Van Houten should be paroled. The appellate court's Tuesday, May 30, 2023, decision reverses an earlier decision by Gov. Gavin Newsom, who rejected her parole in 2020. His administration could appeal. (Stan Lim/Los Angeles Daily News via AP, Pool, File)
By Robert Jablon | Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — Charles Manson follower Leslie Van Houten is one step closer to being released from prison after California Gov. Gavin Newsom said he’ll no longer fight her parole.
Van Houten has been in prison for 53 years for participating in two fatal stabbings at Manson’s direction.
Van Houten’s attorney Nancy Tetreault says the state parole board must give one final sign-off and Van Houten could be out in weeks.
Newsom rejected parole for Van Houten three times. But a state appeals court in May said she should be released. Newsom said Friday he won’t fight the decision as an appeal is unlikely to succeed.
Originally published at The Associated Press