California Governor Rejects Parole for Manson Follower
California’s Democrat Governor Gavin Newsom has once again decided against releasing Patricia Krenwinkel, a woman who followed Charles Manson and participated in the horrific Tate-LaBianca murders of 1969.
Krenwinkel, now 77 years old, was found guilty of seven counts of first-degree murder for her part in the killings, which included the death of actress Sharon Tate, who was pregnant at the time. She has been in prison since 1971, making her the longest-serving female inmate in California.
Over the years, Krenwinkel has earned college degrees, kept a clean record while incarcerated, and has said she feels sorry for what she did, according to the parole board. Her lawyers have argued that she has changed as a person and doesn’t pose a threat to society. They also brought up the abuse she suffered while under Manson’s control. A 2017 investigation seemed to back up her claims of being a victim, which supported her efforts to rehabilitate.
However, Governor Newsom has concluded that Krenwinkel still poses a danger to the public.
In his decision, he said that Krenwinkel doesn’t fully understand her past actions and tends to blame others. He believes that her psychological issues outweigh her rehabilitation. He also acknowledged her age and the circumstances surrounding the original crimes but still stated that public safety must be the top priority.
Krenwinkel’s lawyer, Keith Wattley, criticized the decision, saying it was politically motivated and ignored the evidence of her rehabilitation. He said she is eligible for parole under laws for youth, the elderly, and victims of domestic violence. He emphasized that she has served many decades of her sentence and has shown real change.
This decision has brought back the debate over how to balance justice and rehabilitation. People who support Krenwinkel’s release argue that she deserves a second chance after spending decades in prison and growing as a person. Others argue that her crimes were too terrible and had a lasting impact on the victims’ families.
For now, Krenwinkel will remain in prison in California.
Krenwinkel first met Charles Manson in 1967, along with others who would become part of his group. She has said that she had a sexual relationship with Manson the first night they met and that he was the first person to ever tell her she was beautiful. She was drawn to his charisma and left her old life behind to follow him and others to San Francisco.
She played a key role in the murders on August 9, 1969, at 10050 Cielo Drive, where Sharon Tate and four others were killed. Court records show that Krenwinkel stabbed a woman and called for another member of the group to join the attack. During her trial, she admitted to stabbing one of the victims repeatedly, saying it felt like “nothing.”
The next night, Krenwinkel joined Manson and others in the murders of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca.
At a parole hearing in 2016, Krenwinkel described her role in the LaBianca killings, saying she stabbed Rosemary while believing that Leno “wouldn’t be sending his children to war.”
The LaBiancas were not targeted for personal reasons but were victims of Manson’s plan to start a race war, which he called “Helter Skelter.” After the Tate murders, Manson wanted to continue the killings to create panic in society. The LaBiancas were a middle-class couple living in Los Angeles, and their home was chosen because Manson knew the area. However, to Manson, the LaBiancas also represented the “establishment” he hated. Krenwinkel later said that she believed the murders would disrupt society, which aligned with Manson’s anti-government ideas.
