Parole recommended for Van Houten, ex-disciple of Manson

CHINO, Calif. — Leslie Van Houten, the youngest of Charles Manson’s murderous followers, was recommended for parole Wednesday by a state panel that concluded she has radically changed her life during the more than 40 years she has been in prison for two brutal murders she helped commit 48 years ago and is no longer a threat to society.

The two-member panel’s ruling must still be approved by the state Parole Board and Gov. Jerry Brown, who reversed another panel’s ruling last year.

In blocking her release then, Brown said Van Houten had failed to adequately explain to the panel how a model teenager from a privileged Southern California family who had once been a homecoming princess could have turned into a ruthless killer by age 19.

Van Houten has described how she joined several other members of the “Manson Family” in killing Los Angeles grocer Leno La Bianca and his wife, Rosemary, on Aug. 9, 1969.

She was not with Manson followers the night before when they killed pregnant actress Sharon Tate and four others.

Since she was incarcerated more than 40 years ago, Van Houten has been a model prisoner and earned college degrees. Members of the Tate and La Bianca families have argued repeatedly, however, against granting parole to any Manson follower who took part in the killings. None has been freed, and one, Susan Atkins, died in prison in 2009. Manson, now 82, remains behind bars.