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Manson Family Member Leslie Van Houten Granted Parole By State Board

leslie_van_houten_LAPL.jpg
Photo of Leslie Van Houten circa 1977 from the Herald-Examiner Collection, via the Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection.

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Murderous Manson family member Leslie Van Houten, now 68, was granted parole by a California board on Wednesday.

Van Houten, the youngest Manson family member, was convicted of the 1969 murders of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca. Van Houten was 19 when she and fellow cult member Patricia Krenwinkel fatally stabbed Rosemary LaBianca. She has spent the past 46 years behind bars. The one-time Monrovia High School cheerleader has reportedly been "a model prisoner," as her attorneys told the L.A. Times.

This is the second time a parole board has recommended Van Houten be released. After being repeatedly denied parole 19 times between 1979 and 2013, she was first granted parole in April 2016 by a two-member California review board. Governor Jerry Brown reversed the decision two months later, however. The final decision on her release will again fall to Governor Brown.

Related: Where Are The Manson Family Members Now?

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