Three years after California Gov. Gavin Newsom rejected parole for Manson follower Leslie Van Houten, a state appeals court ruled Tuesday that she should be released. Van Houten, 73, has served more than 50 years of a life sentence for helping Charles Manson murder a grocer and his wife—and she has been up for parole five times without getting it. In a 2-1 decision, the court dismissed Newsom’s explanations for why he wants to keep her locked up. He can now ask the state attorney general to petition the highest court in California to weigh in but has not announced his plans.
