Chilling photo of Manson cult murderer before jail - and dramatic transformation
A chilling photo of Charles Manson's cult murderer laughing before jail shows her dramatic transformation after more than four decades in prison.
Leslie Van Houten was 19 when she met Manson and joined the murderous cult known as the "Manson family" along with Susan Atkins and Patricia Krenwinkel.
In 1971, she was convicted for her role and sentenced to life in prison for helping Manson and other followers in the 1969 killings of Leno LaBianca, a grocer in Los Angeles, and his wife, Rosemary.
Before sentencing, they were all chillingly pictured laughing as they walked into a Los Angeles court on March 29, 1971.
They angrily shouted at the judge while in the courtroom and were ejected, along with Charles Manson.
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Susan Denise Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel and Leslie Van Houten, all laugh after their sentence (Bettmann Archive)The court found she smeared their blood on the walls after the horrific killings and later described holding Rosemary LaBianca down with a pillowcase over her head as others stabbed her, before stabbing the woman herself more than a dozen times.
The slayings happened the day after Manson followers killed actress Sharon Tate and four others. Van Houten, who was 19 at the time, did not participate in the Tate killings.
After spending more than four decades in prison, she was considered suitable for parole after a July 2020 hearing, but her release was blocked by Mr Newsom, who maintained that she was still a threat to society.
She first filed an appeal with a trial court, which rejected it, and then turned to the appellate courts.
Leslie Van Houten in prison in 1971 (AP)The appellate court's ruling in May reversed an earlier decision by Mr Newsom, who rejected parole for Ms Van Houten in 2020.
She had been recommended for parole five times since 2016 and all of those recommendations were rejected by either Mr Newsom or former governor Jerry Brown.
Mr Newsom's office said the governor was disappointed by the decision.
In a statement issued on July 7, the governor's office said: "More than 50 years after the Manson cult committed these brutal killings, the victims' families still feel the impact."
She cut a much sombre figure after four decades in jail (AP)The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said that Van Houten "was released to parole supervision".
Her lawyer, Nancy Tetreault, said that she left the California Institution for Women in Corona, east of Los Angeles, in the early morning hours and was driven to transitional housing.
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Ms Tetreault said: "She is still trying to get used to the idea that this is real."
(Michael Ochs Archives)Days earlier, Governor of California Gavin Newsom announced that he would not fight a state appeals court ruling that Van Houten should be granted parole.
He said that it was unlikely the state Supreme Court would consider an appeal.
She is expected to spend about a year in transitional housing, learning basic skills such as how to go to the grocery store and get a debit card.
Ms Tetreault said: "She has to learn to use the internet. She has to learn to buy things without cash. It's a very different world than when she went in."
Manson died in prison in 2017 of natural causes at age 83 after nearly half a century behind bars.
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