Calif. Gov. Gavin Newsom won't challenge parole for Manson family member Leslie Van Houten

July 8 (UPI) -- California Gov. Gavin Newsom says he won't contest a parole granted to former Manson family member and convicted murder Leslie Van Houten.

Van Houten was convicted of the 1969 of killing of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca in Los Angeles and sentenced to death two years later. The death sentence was commuted to life in prison after California's Supreme Court ruled the death penalty was unconstitutional in the 1972 People V. Anderson case.

During the murders, which were ordered by infamous cult leader Charles Manson, Van Houten repeatedly stabbed Rosemary LaBianca.

Van Houten was not present when Manson family members killed five people at the Hollywood home of movie director Roman Polanski the night before the LaBianca murders. Those victims included Polanski's pregnant wife, actress Sharon Tate.

Newsom has blocked three of Van Houten's previous parole recommendations, most recently in 2022.

In May, the Second District Court of Appeals ruled that Newsom failed "to account for the decades of therapy, self-help programming and reflection Van Houten has undergone in the past 50 years."

In order to potentially block the release, Newsom would have needed to appeal the decision prior to Monday's deadline.

"More than 50 years after the Manson cult committed these brutal offenses, the victims' families still feel the impact, as do all Californians," Newsom spokesperson Erin Mellon noted in a statement to media outlets.

But now, she said, although the governor is "disappointed" by the court's decision to release Van Houten, he "will not pursue further action as efforts to further appeal are unlikely to succeed.

"The California Supreme Court accepts appeals in very few cases, and generally does not select cases based on this type of fact-specific determination," she said.

Van Houten's attorney, Nancy Tetreault, told CNN "she's just grateful that her rehabilitation, her hard work toward reforming her thinking, understanding the causative factors that led her to be influenced by Manson."

Tetreault said Van Houten will be paroled in the next few weeks. After that, she will spend a year at a half-way house.

Van Houten obtained a master's degree while in prison and has worked as a tutor.

Charles Manson died in prison in 2017.