Latest news with #parole
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- General
- Yahoo
Former Charles Manson follower is recommended for parole
A California state parole board recommended parole for Patricia Krenwinkel, a follower of the cult leader Charles Manson, on Friday for the second time. The decision will now have to be approved by the Board of Parole Hearings and California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who denied Krenwinkel's first parole recommendation. The governor's review process can take up to 150 days following a parole hearing. The 77-year-old is serving a life sentence in the California Institution for Women for her role in the killings of pregnant actor Sharon Tate and four others in August 1969, as well as grocer Leno LaBianca and his wife, Rosemary, the following night in what prosecutors have called Manson's attempt to start a race war. She was convicted on seven counts of first-degree murder in April 1971. Krenwinkel was recommended for parole for the first time in May 2022, but Newsom denied clemency five months later, according to Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation inmate records. She was previously denied parole 14 times before then. Friday's parole suitability hearing was Krenwinkel's 16th, David Maldonado, deputy chief of strategic communications and external affairs for the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, confirmed. Krenwinkel was 19 and working as a secretary when she met a 33-year-old Manson at a party, leaving her life behind to follow him because she believed they could have a romantic relationship, she said in 2016 testimony. Instead, she was abused by Manson and tried to flee, but was brought back each time and was often under the influence of drugs. Krenwinkel admitted to stabbing an heiress to a coffee fortune, Abigail Folger, multiple times on the night of Aug. 9, 1969, as well as participating in the killings of the LaBiancas the following night. During the LaBianca murders, she infamously wrote 'Helter Skelter' and other phrases on the wall in her victims' blood. She, along with other participants including Manson, were convicted and sentenced to death. However, their sentences were commuted to life with the possibility parole in 1972, after the death penalty was briefly ruled unconstitutional in California. Krenwinkel is now the state's longest-serving inmate. The California governor's office did not immediately respond to NBC News' requests for comment. This article was originally published on
Yahoo
10 hours ago
- General
- Yahoo
‘Manson Family' member who smeared blood on walls recommended for parole
A former follower of cult leader Charles Manson, who is serving a life sentence for her role in a 1969 Los Angeles killing spree, has been recommended for parole. Patricia Krenwinkel, 77, the longest-serving female inmate in California, is one of two remaining so-called 'Manson Family' members still in prison. In 1971, she was convicted of the murders of seven people, including the actress Sharon Tate, during a grisly two-night rampage that shocked America. Krenwinkel was sentenced to death, however, her sentence was reduced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after California abolished the death penalty in 1972. It is the 16th time that Krenwinkel has appeared before a parole board, and the second time she was recommended. The first was in 2022, but the decision was overruled by Gavin Newsom, California's governor. Mr Newsom wrote at the time that Krenwinkel 'still poses an unreasonable danger to society if paroled at this time'. 'At her parole hearing, Ms. Krenwinkel accepted responsibility for her direct crimes, yet she continued to shift disproportionate blame to Mr. Manson for decisions and conduct within her control,' he added. The governor could reject the parole board's decision once again or send it back for further review. Krenwinkel, incarcerated at the California Institution for Women for 54 years, did not speak at the four-hour hearing on Friday, but family members of the victims spoke in opposition to her release. 'For years, this woman laughed about the murders in court and showed absolutely no remorse at all,' wrote Debra Tate, the younger sister of Sharon Tate, in an online petition on Friday. 'Society cannot allow this serial killer who committed such horrible, gruesome, random killings back out.' Ms Tate, the 26-year-old wife of filmmaker Roman Polanski, was one of seven victims of the grisly killings by the Manson cult on the nights of August 9 and 10, 1969. Eight months pregnant, Ms Tate was stabbed and shot to death at her Beverly Hills home with four friends, including coffee heiress Abigail Folger, hair stylist Thomas Jay Sebring, Wojciech Frykowski and Steven Earl Parent. Mr Polanski was in Europe at the time. The following night, Krenwinkel and other Manson followers stabbed to death grocery store executive Leno LaBianca and his wife Rosemary. Both homes had smears of blood on the walls, and Krenwinkel had used blood to write 'Death to Pigs'. Manson did not personally kill any of the seven victims, but he was found guilty of ordering their murders as part of a delusional plot to ignite a race war, which he believed was heralded in a Beatles song. Krenwinkle, who was 23 at the time, along with Manson, 36, and three others of his so-called 'family' of misfits and hippie types, were convicted of all the murders. At Krenwinkle's 14 other parole denials, the board cited the brutality of the murders. Manson died in prison in 2017 of natural causes aged 83 after nearly half a century behind bars. One of his followers, Susan Atkins, died in prison in 2009. Charles 'Tex' Watson, 79, remains in prison. Leslie Van Houten was released from prison on parole in 2023 after spending 53 years behind bars. Governor Newsom had rejected her parole recommendation, but was overruled by a California appeals court.
Telegraph
10 hours ago
- General
- Telegraph
‘Manson Family' member who smeared blood on walls recommended for parole
A former follower of cult leader Charles Manson, who is serving a life sentence for her role in a 1969 Los Angeles killing spree, has been recommended for parole. Patricia Krenwinkel, 77, the longest-serving female inmate in California, is one of two remaining so-called 'Manson Family' members still in prison. In 1971, she was convicted of the murders of seven people, including the actress Sharon Tate, during a grisly two-night rampage that shocked America. Krenwinkel was sentenced to death, however, her sentence was reduced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after California abolished the death penalty in 1972. It is the 16th time that Krenwinkel has appeared before a parole board, and the second time she was recommended. The first was in 2022, but the decision was overruled by Gavin Newsom, California's governor. Mr Newsom wrote at the time that Krenwinkel 'still poses an unreasonable danger to society if paroled at this time'. 'At her parole hearing, Ms. Krenwinkel accepted responsibility for her direct crimes, yet she continued to shift disproportionate blame to Mr. Manson for decisions and conduct within her control,' he added. The governor could reject the parole board's decision once again or send it back for further review. Krenwinkel, incarcerated at the California Institution for Women for 54 years, did not speak at the four-hour hearing on Friday, but family members of the victims spoke in opposition to her release. 'For years, this woman laughed about the murders in court and showed absolutely no remorse at all,' wrote Debra Tate, the younger sister of Sharon Tate, in an online petition on Friday. 'Society cannot allow this serial killer who committed such horrible, gruesome, random killings back out.' Ms Tate, the 26-year-old wife of filmmaker Roman Polanski, was one of seven victims of the grisly killings by the Manson cult on the nights of August 9 and 10, 1969. Eight months pregnant, Ms Tate was stabbed and shot to death at her Beverly Hills home with four friends, including coffee heiress Abigail Folger, hair stylist Thomas Jay Sebring, Wojciech Frykowski and Steven Earl Parent. Mr Polanski was in Europe at the time. The following night, Krenwinkel and other Manson followers stabbed to death grocery store executive Leno LaBianca and his wife Rosemary. Both homes had smears of blood on the walls, and Krenwinkel had used blood to write 'Death to Pigs'. Manson did not personally kill any of the seven victims, but he was found guilty of ordering their murders as part of a delusional plot to ignite a race war, which he believed was heralded in a Beatles song. Krenwinkle, who was 23 at the time, along with Manson, 36, and three others of his so-called 'family' of misfits and hippie types, were convicted of all the murders. At Krenwinkle's 14 other parole denials, the board cited the brutality of the murders. Manson died in prison in 2017 of natural causes aged 83 after nearly half a century behind bars. One of his followers, Susan Atkins, died in prison in 2009. Charles 'Tex' Watson, 79, remains in prison.
ABC News
15 hours ago
- General
- ABC News
Former 'Manson family' member Patricia Krenwinkel, 77, recommended for parole over 1969 Tate-LaBianca murders
Patricia Krenwinkel, a former follower of cult leader Charles Manson who was convicted for her role in the murders of seven people during a two-day killing spree across Los Angeles in 1969, has been recommended for parole. It's the 16th time Krenwinkel has appeared before the parole board panel, and the second time parole has been recommended — the first being in 2022, before the decision was overturned by California Governor Gavin Newsom. Krenwinkel, 77, is California's longest-serving female prisoner, having originally been sentenced to death in 1971 for her role in the brutal "Helter Skelter" killings, which shocked America and shone a light on the dark side of 1960s hippie counterculture. Her sentence was commuted to life with the possibility of parole in 1972, when the state's Supreme Court ruled the death penalty was unconstitutional. In 1967, when Krenwinkel was 19, she met musician and small-time criminal Charles Manson at a party, leaving her job and apartment behind three days later to travel with him to San Francisco as she believed they might have a romantic relationship. During the next 18 months, she and several other young men and women followed Manson around the country, becoming known as "the Manson family" as they fell deeper under his influence, often with the aid of psychedelic drugs. She later said Manson abused her physically and emotionally during this time, including trafficking her to other men for sex, and she had tried to escape the group twice only to be brought back by other members of the "family". In 1969, Manson — once an aspiring pop star — convinced his followers he was receiving secret messages through the Beatles' White Album, informing him of a coming race war that his group could wait out underground, before emerging to rule the world. In what prosecutors labelled an attempt to ignite that race war, Manson instructed Krenwinkel and several other followers to enter the home of actress Sharon Tate and her husband, director Roman Polanski, and to kill anyone they found inside. His followers shot, beat and stabbed five people to death at the home that night — including Ms Tate, who was eight months pregnant at the time. The following night, Manson and his followers attacked Leno and Rosemary LaBianca at a different house chosen at random, stabbing them to death before Krenwinkel wrote "Healter Skelter" [sic], "Rise" and "Death to Pigs" on the walls with their blood. During their trial, Krenwinkel and two other young women involved in the murders drew press attention for smiling, laughing and singing as the proceedings took place, then for shaving their heads and carving the letter X into their foreheads as Manson had done. While she remained loyal to the cult leader throughout her trial and at the start of her prison sentence, over time she began to distance herself from him, going on to renounce her past actions and to speak out against his claim not to have ordered the murders. "[I'm] just haunted each and every day by the unending suffering my participation in murders caused," she told a parole hearing in 2016. The panel that recommended Krenwinkel be paroled acknowledged her perfect behaviour record over her 54 years in prison, and said she poses little risk of reoffending. Nevertheless, family members of her victims remain strongly opposed to any possible release, according to The New York Times. Debra Tate, Sharon's younger sister, told the newspaper she has been asking for face-to-face meetings with Manson family members for "many, many years" under a restorative justice framework, but "they've all refused". "They could have an opportunity to actually sit down face-to-face and say they're sorry, but they won't do it," she said. "When you refuse to talk and your victims' families are asking for it over and over again, isn't that yet another kind of torture?" The parole board panel's recommendation will not be the final word on Krenwinkel's fate. The decision will first be reviewed by the board's legal division, a process that could take up to 120 days. The governor will then be given the chance to reverse the decision, as he did in 2022, or send it back to the panel for further review. A similar decision by Mr Newsom to block the release of Manson family member Leslie Van Houten was overturned by a state appeals court in 2023, leading to Van Houten's release from prison. Krenwinkel is now one of two Manson cult members still behind bars over the 1969 killings, the other being Charles "Tex" Watson, 79, who coordinated the murders. Manson himself died behind bars in 2017 at the age of 83, having been convicted of ordering the killings.
CBS News
19 hours ago
- General
- CBS News
Former Charles Manson follower Patricia Krenwinkel recommended for parole after decades in prison for 1969 murders
LOS ANGELES – Former Charles Manson follower and California's longest-serving female inmate Patricia Krenwinkel was recommended for parole after serving more than five decades for multiple killings in 1969, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said. Krenwinkel, now 77, was first recommended for parole three years ago, but California Governor Gavin Newsom blocked her parole, saying she was too much of a public safety risk. Following Friday's recommendation to be granted parole, the case will be reviewed by California's Board of Parole Hearings and Newsom, which can take up to nearly five months. She was received on California's death row from Los Angeles County in 1971 for seven counts of first-degree murder. Then, in 1972, the state's death penalty was ruled unconstitutional. She was denied parole over a dozen times before the 2022 recommendation. Krenwinkel met Manson when she was 19. She previously stated that she left everything behind to follow Manson because she believed she might have a romantic relationship with the then 33-year-old. In a 2016 parole hearing, she said Manson physically and emotionally abused her and trafficked her to others for sex. She then escaped twice but was brought back, rarely left alone and usually under the influence. Krenwinkel was convicted of the killing of actress Sharon Tate and her unborn baby on Aug. 8, 1969, at a Beverly Hills home. Tate's body was found with a rope around her neck and wrapped around the body of a man. In that same 2016 hearing, Krenwinkel said she repeatedly stabbed 26-year-old Abigail Folger at Tate's home the following day. Then, the next night, she said Manson and Charles "Tex" Watson told her to do "something witchy." So Krenwinkel helped stab and kill grocer Leno LaBianca and his wife, Rosemary. She then took a rag and wrote "Helter Skelter," "Rise," and "Death to Pigs" on the walls with his blood. Laslie Van Houten was sentenced for her role in the killings of the LaBiancas, but was released in 2023. Susan Atkins, who also participated in the Tate's murder, died from cancer in prison in 2009. Watson, who was convicted in five killings, remains in prison and has been denied parole several times. Manson died at 83 after serving more than 45 years.
