Youngest Member of Murderous Manson ‘Family’ Again Recommended for Parole

Sheron Lawin (L), a member of the Board of Prison Terms commissioners, listens to Leslie Van Houten (R), after her parole was denied 28 June 2002 at the California Institution for Women in Corona, California. Van Houten, 53, has served over 30 years in prison for her involvement in the Tate-LaBianca killings. Van Houten's attorney Christie Webb is at center. Damian Dovarganes/AFP/Getty Images

LOS ANGELES—The California parole board recommended on Jan. 30 that Leslie Van Houten, the youngest of Charles Manson’s murderous “family” of followers, be released early from the life prison term she is serving for her role in the cult’s 1969 killing spree.

The ultimate decision on whether to grant parole to Van Houten, who was 19 at the time of the slayings and is now 69, rests with California Governor Gavin Newsom, whose predecessor, fellow Democrat Jerry Brown, twice denied the board’s recommendation that she be set free.