CHINO, Calif. -- A California panel Thursday recommended parole for former Charles Manson follower Leslie Van Houten more than four decades after she went to prison for the killings of a wealthy grocer and his wife.
The decision will now undergo administrative review by the Board of Parole Hearings. If upheld it goes to Gov. Jerry Brown, who has the final word on whether the now-66-year-old Van Houten is released from the California Institution for Women in Chino.
Brown previously blocked the parole of former Manson follower Bruce Davis, citing the gravity of his offenses and his refusal to fully accept responsibility for his role in the murders of a stuntman and a musician.
Van Houten, a former homecoming princess, participated in the slayings of Leno La Bianca and his wife, Rosemary, a day after other so-called Manson family members killed pregnant actress Sharon Tate and four others in 1969.
The killings were the start of what Manson believed was a coming race war. He dubbed it "Helter Skelter," after a Beatles song.
Van Houten was the youngest Manson follower to take part in the killings.
Since then, she has completed college degrees and been commended for her behavior as a model prisoner.
Earlier Thursday, she described in graphic detail how she helped secure a pillow over the head of Rosemary La Bianca with a lamp cord and hold her down while someone else stabbed the woman in her home in 1969.
Van Houten recounted the killing during her 20th parole hearing at the California Institution for Women, saying she had looked off into the distance until another Manson follower told her to do something and she joined in the stabbing.
"I don't let myself off the hook. I don't find parts in any of this that makes me feel the slightest bit good about myself," she told the parole board panel.
The La Biancas were stabbed numerous times and the word "WAR" was carved on the stomach of Leno La Bianca.
The Los Angeles County district attorney's office declined to comment ahead of Thursday's hearing.
Sharon Tate's sister, Debra, has started an online petition opposing parole for Van Houten.
At her last hearing in 2013, a parole commissioner told Van Houten she had failed to explain how someone as intelligent and well-bred as she could have committed such cruel and atrocious crimes.
Van Houten told the panel she had been traumatized by her parents' divorce when she was 14, her pregnancy soon after and her mother's insistence she have an abortion. During the hearing, she apologized to everyone she had harmed.
Van Houten did not participate in the Tate killings but went along the next night when the La Biancas were slain. She was 19 at the time.
Her defense lawyers portrayed her from a good family who had been a homecoming princess and showed promise until she got involved with drugs and was recruited into Manson's cult.
Van Houten's conviction was overturned on appeal. She was retried twice and convicted in 1978 of two counts of murder and conspiracy.
Manson, 81, and other followers involved in the killings are still jailed.
Patricia Krenwinkel and Charles "Tex" Watson have each been denied parole multiple times, while fellow defendant Susan Atkins died in prison in 2009.
Davis was approved for parole but Brown blocked his release in 2014. Davis was not involved in the Tate-La Bianca murders.
A Section on 04/15/2016