Manson Family member Leslie Van Houten recommended for parole

After being denied parole 19 times by the California state parole board, Leslie Van Houten, a member of the Manson Family cult, was recommended on Thursday for parole.

The 66-year-old was convicted along with four others for the 1969 murders of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca in their Los Angeles home. The recommendation will next be reviewed by the board's legal team, and if it passes, will be sent to Gov. Jerry Brown (D), who could reject her release. Leo LaBianca's daughter, Cory, said she opposes the idea of parole, and will lobby Brown to keep her in prison.

Van Houten was 19 at the time of the murders, and testified that she stabbed Rosemary LaBianca at least 14 times in the back. She was sentenced to death, but after the California Supreme Court struck down the death penalty, her sentence was commuted to life in prison. Her lawyers have said she is a model prisoner who earned her bachelor's and master's degrees while running self-help groups for prisoners, and attorney Richard Pfeiffer told the Los Angeles Times Van Houten felt "numb" after the ruling. "The opposition to parole has always been the name Manson," he added. "A lot of people who oppose parole don't know anything about Leslie's conduct. Her role was bad. Everyone's was. But they don't know what she's done since then and all of the good she's done."

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