Manson follower should be paroled, court rules

A California appeals court said yesterday that Leslie Van Houten, who participated in two killings at the direction of cult leader Charles Manson in 1969, should be released from prison on parole. The appellate court’s ruling reverses an earlier decision by Governor Gavin Newsom, who rejected parole for Van Houten in 2020. Van Houten, now in her 70s, is serving a life sentence for helping Manson and other followers kill Leno LaBianca, a grocer in Los Angeles, and his wife, Rosemary.