{"id":874989,"date":"2026-10-08T09:50:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T09:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/874989\/"},"modified":"2026-10-08T09:50:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T09:50:11","slug":"patricia-krenwinkel-former-manson-follower-granted-parole-for-third-time-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/874989\/","title":{"rendered":"Patricia Krenwinkel, former Manson follower, granted parole for third time | California"},"content":{"rendered":"

Patricia Krenwinkel, a former Charles Manson<\/a> follower, was granted parole on Tuesday after nearly six decades in prison for her role in the infamous Tate-LaBianca murders in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

This is the third time<\/a> that Krenwinkel, 78, has been approved for release by California\u2019s board of parole hearings. After both of her last two parole grants, Gavin Newsom, California\u2019s governor, reversed the parole board\u2019s decisions and denied her freedom<\/a>, and Krenwinkel\u2019s attorneys are now urging the Democrat to allow this latest ruling to stand.<\/p>\n

Krenwinkel, who was 21 at the time of the 1969 killings, has been imprisoned longer than any other woman in California<\/a>, and the parole board has repeatedly acknowledged her record of rehabilitation over 57 years in prison, concluding she would not in her elderly age be a danger to society.<\/p>\n

She was convicted in 1971 for her role in the violent crime spree over two nights that claimed the lives of actor Sharon Tate, who was eight months pregnant, and her four friends, and grocery owner Leno LaBianca and his wife, Rosemary. The killings were gruesome and became one of the most notorious crime stories in the US.<\/p>\n

Krenwinkel was 19 years old when she \u201cfell under Charles Manson\u2019s control\u201d and was exploited and psychologically abused by the cult leader, her attorneys have said.<\/p>\n

\u201cReaching this moment has taken decades of hard, deliberate work to confront who she was, what she did, and the devastating harm she caused,\u201d her longtime lawyer, Keith Wattley, said in a statement after the parole grant. \u201cShe fully accepts responsibility for her actions, everything she contributed to, and every life she destroyed in 1969. Pat does not excuse or minimize that harm.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over her decades in prison, Krenwinkel has had a clean disciplinary record, and nine consecutive psychological evaluations in the past 40 years have found her to be a low public safety risk, according to Wattley, who has represented Krenwinkel for 16 years. He said she has participated in extensive therapy and group counseling, earned a college degree and trained service dogs for people with disabilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have seen the depth of her remorse and the extraordinary work she has done to change her life. I firmly believe she is ready to return home,\u201d Wattley added.<\/p>\n

Debra Tate, Sharon Tate\u2019s sister, has repeatedly objected<\/a> to the release of Krenwinkel and other Manson followers.<\/p>\n

When Newsom denied Krenwinkel parole in 2022, after the board first found her suitable for release, the governor acknowledged<\/a> that she had been a \u201cvictim of Mr Manson\u2019s abuse\u201d and said she had \u201cmatured in prison and engaged in commendable rehabilitative efforts\u201d. But he argued she had \u201cnot developed sufficient insight into the causative factors of her crime and her triggers for antisocial thinking\u201d and was still dangerous.<\/p>\n

When Newsom again denied her parole in 2025, he also acknowledged her \u201cserious chronic medical conditions\u201d had diminished her strength, but concluded she \u201cmust do additional work to deepen her insight before she can be safely released\u201d.<\/p>\n

The governor is required to consider her elderly age and that she committed the crime as a youth in his review of her case.<\/p>\n

Krenwinkel\u2019s attorneys and advocates have repeatedly argued the governor was caving to political pressures by denying parole to people convicted in high-profile cases. Newsom previously vetoed the release of Leslie van Houten, another former Manson follower, but an appeals court sided with her and granted her freedom in 2023<\/a>. Newsom also faced scrutiny for overturning the parole grant of Sirhan Sirhan<\/a>, convicted of assassinating Robert F Kennedy, even after two of Kennedy\u2019s sons favored his release.<\/p>\n

The push for Krenwinkel\u2019s release comes at a time of growing concern about the increasing number of elderly people languishing in US prisons<\/a> after decades of incarceration. Krenwinkel\u2019s longtime friends from inside California\u2019s women\u2019s prison told the Guardian<\/a> last year that she was a mentor and support system to others in the prison.<\/p>\n

Wattley, founder of UnCommon Law, a non-profit organization that represents people at parole hearings, urged Newsom to \u201cuphold the law\u201d and approve Krenwinkel\u2019s freedom: \u201cThe parole process exists because people can change, rehabilitation matters, and public safety must be grounded in evidence. Pat\u2019s case raises a fundamental question: if three parole grants don\u2019t lead to release, what is the point of this process?\u201d<\/p>\n

Spokespeople for Newsom did not immediately respond to an inquiry on Wednesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Patricia Krenwinkel, a former Charles Manson follower, was granted parole on Tuesday after nearly six decades in prison…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":874990,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[88],"class_list":["post-874989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874989","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=874989"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874989\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/874990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=874989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=874989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=874989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}