How a 77-year-old Manson follower has Newsom in familiar bind
By Bob Egelko, Courts Reporter
June 3, 2025
San Francisco Chronicle
Once again, a state parole board has found one of cult
leader Charles Manson’s followers – Patricia Krenwinkel – suitable
for release after more than 56 years behind bars for her role in seven 1969
murders. And once again, Gov. Gavin Newsom must decide whether there is any
evidence that Krenwinkel, 77, would pose any danger if released – and whether a
decision to free her would affect his political future.
The Board of Parole Hearings, whose members were
appointed by the governor, voted Friday to grant parole to Krenwinkel, the
state’s longest-serving female prisoner. The board had ruled against her 14
times before recommending parole in 2022, but Newsom vetoed her release, saying
she had not shown “sufficient insight” into her crimes.
The governor gave a similar explanation in 2022 for
vetoing the parole of another Manson follower, Leslie Van Houten, whose release
had been approved five times by the parole board since 2016 but blocked each
time by Govs. Jerry Brown and Newsom.
But a state appeals court ruled in 2023 that Newsom had
failed to justify his conclusions that Van Houten, 73, lacked sufficient
understanding of her actions and could still be dangerous after 54 years in
prison. She was freed after the governor decided not to appeal the ruling.
“The only factor that can explain this veto (of Van
Houten’s parole) is political optics, and California law does not allow
governors to veto people’s parole because it will look bad,” said Hadar Aviram,
a professor at UC College of the Law San Francisco and author of the 2020 book “Yesterday’s
Monsters: The Manson Family Cases and the Illusion of Parole.”
And she said the same thinking will most likely affect
Newsom’s upcoming decision on Krenwinkel, once the parole board’s decision
becomes final in 120 days.
“What does he think people have an appetite for in this
political reality?” Aviram asked, noting California voters’ approval last
November of Proposition 36, which increased some sentences for drug crimes. “It
costs him nothing to oppose (her release). In the worst-case scenario, the
court overrules him again and she gets out.”
Newsom’s office denied a request for comment.
Manson ordered seven of his followers, including the
21-year-old Krenwinkel and two other young women, to kill nine people in three
gruesome attacks in the Benedict Canyon area of Los Angeles in July and August
1969.
During her trial, Krenwinkel admitted chasing Abigail
Folger, heiress of the Folger coffee family, and stabbing her 25 times in the
home of actress Sharon Tate, another murder victim, and then helping to kill
grocery store executive Leno Bianca and his wife, Rosemary, and using their
blood to scrawl “Death to pigs” on a wall.
Convicted of seven murders, Krenwinkel was sentenced to
death along with Manson and three others in 1971. But the sentences were
reduced to life with the possibility of parole after the California Supreme
Court overturned the state’s death penalty law in 1972.
The voters passed a new law in 1977 making capital crimes
punishable by death or life in prison without the possibility of parole, but
those sentenced under the earlier law, including Krenwinkel, remained eligible
for parole. Another ballot measure, approved by the voters in 1988, authorized
the governor to veto decisions by the parole board.
In prison, Krenwinkel has a clean disciplinary record,
earned a college degree and has taken part in community-service programs,
working to support other inmates with mental illnesses. At her 2022 parole
hearing, she said that after dropping out of school and becoming an infatuated
member of Manson’s so-called family at age 19, “I allowed myself to just start
absolutely becoming devoid of any form of morality or real ethics.”
In a statement released by Krenwinkel’s lawyers, Jane
Dorotik, a former inmate and now part of the support group California Coalition
for Women Prisoners, said, “Those of us who served time with her came to know
her as a thoughtful, gentle, and kind person – someone deeply dedicated to
creating a safe, caring environment.”
Relatives of the murder victims have not been persuaded.
“I beg the board to consider parole for Patricia
Krenwinkel only when her victims are paroled from their graves,” Anthony
Demaria, a nephew of victim Jay Sebring, testified at one of her hearings.
And Patrick Sequeira, a prosecutor in the murder cases,
told the board that if Krenwinkel “truly understood her crimes and the horrific
nature of it, she wouldn’t be here at a parole hearing. She would just accept a
punishment.”
Not so, said her lead attorney, Keith Wattley, executive
director of UnCommon Law, an Oakland-based firm that represents inmates seeking
parole.
“Pat has fully accepted responsibility for everything she
did, everything she contributed to, every twisted philosophy she embraced and
endorsed and, most importantly, every life she destroyed by her actions in
1969,” Wattley said in a statement after the board’s latest decision.
“Now it’s the Governor’s turn to show that he believes in
law and order when the law requires a person’s release despite public
outcry.”
24 comments:
Ill make a prediction on this one and a comment as well. Full disclosure- I am not 100% sure what Newsome will do about this one so please keep in mind this is just a prediction...
I think he will overturn the Board, and not fight it if they then overturn his decision. I think Pat too will walk. Hard for me to type these words, but I just feel like the momentum has shifted.
Now here are two things that I feel strongly about. None of them should ever gotten out. Least of all Clem, who was still not THAT far removed from the crimes and supposedly the least stable of the group. Yet he was more of a threat than an 80 year old LULU? I find there involvement much more similar than I do to the two of them and anyone else. The fact that a Middle aged man with potential mental disability is a safer bet than a dying Susan who couldn't hold her head up at the end, or LULU who is old withered and grey, is just a joke that made the "Political prisoner" argument at least plausible. Although I never did agree with it. I think the sheer magnitude of the crimes is enough for me to keep them locked up forever. But when you let Clem go that early and then make the "Still pose a significant threat" argument to intelligent people about a basically paralyzed woman, or a women in her late 70's- it opens up the doors for everyone to cry foul. I cant argue that at all.
More interestingly to me, Was LULU's last time around. Newsome used the "Hasn't gained fair insight into her crimes yet" card. Now here I am going to say that I don't think he or anyone can say that about Pat. Pat is the only one who I do believe did start to get it. I think today she totally gets it. Pat once told a parole board that SHE was the person she had hurt the most in all of this. Bad moment of self pity and self- realization of the fact she had wasted and cost herself her own life for all intents of purposes. Not a great way to answer. But in truth, Pat went some years without even going to her hearings, and used others simply to apologize to victims families. She sued and appealed and fought the parole decisions much less than the others, and has the best post incarceration record of them all. Pat has demonstrated to me much more than any of the others she understands what she did, and why she has paid so dearly. Besides Tex, I think she deserves to be right where she is more than any of the others. After reading and studying all I have about this case and the individual nature and behavior of the Family- Pat was one of the least likely I would have chosen if you asked me to pick which people went on those two nights before we got to that chapter and I knew who actually did. That type of violence from Pat was kind of out of character. So to me that makes her the most difficult to understand and predict. How can I say I think she would no longer be capable of harming others now, when I wasn't sure she could have done so back then? But I do believe she has gained insight to her crimes. I do believe she has sown some remorse at times, whereas I think LULU never did. LULU went from expecting to be released at some point to demanding so. Her only apologies to her victims families in latter came when she thought saying so was just a formality in getting out. I watched and/or read every parole hearing that Leslie, Susan, and Pat had up until the last few years and in my opinion there was just a different tone and message coming from Pat than the other two.
I wonder if Pat will reunite or speak with LULU if/when she does get out? I wonder if LULU talks to any of the others? Maybe they will have a reunion someday with Squeaky and Sandy out in Death Valley. Maybe Andy Cohen could get them to do it on Bravo. I know the Vanderpump Rules cast were all fans of the Manson story. In the same episode on, one season of the show, one of the main characters ( Tom Sandoval of "Scandoval" fame) debuted his new band- "Charles Mcmansion" , and then they all went to celebrate at El Coyote. Coincidence?
Maybe through George and Sandy we can coordinate the family reunion with the next Manson Blog tour. Maybe they will let me go. Sandy, Squeaky, Pat, LULU and Saint Circumstance. That would be a conversation for the ages. I'll have to bring plenty of Coors-light. They only sell Miller out in the desert if my memory serves me, and Stoner Van Houten drank most of the Coors-light I brought with me. But this time George- I'm driving....
- Your Favorite Saint
Thanks for posting Deb S. I hope you're doing OK.
St C - For what it's worth, I think you're on the money as to how things will pan out. I also find Clem very creepy indeed. But the law doesn't revolve around inklings and funny feelings. Probably for the best.
It will be reminded that Pat participated first hand in SEVEN murders. It will be reminded that Pat fled the State. It will be remembered that Pat was sentenced to death (Lulu, ultimately, was not). Pat is not going anywhere outside of Saint's very hairy fantasies
She stabbed a woman who was saying "I'm already dead". Parole: I think not.
Katie will never get out.
St. Circumstance said:
The fact that a Middle aged man with potential mental disability is a safer bet than a dying Susan who couldn't hold her head up at the end...is just a joke that made the "Political prisoner" argument at least plausible......when you let Clem go that early and then make the "Still pose a significant threat" argument to intelligent people about a basically paralyzed woman,...it opens up the doors for everyone to cry foul
You're conflating a few points here that are independent of one another, here, St.
Clem's release is not in the slightest connected with Susan's continued incarceration, other than the fact that they knew each other and murdered for Charlie.
Clem went on to admit his crime, explain lots, and then he showed the authorities where Shorty's body was. Even then, it was 8 years before he was paroled. Now, the thing is, even though he had been convicted of the murder, amid lots of rumour that Shorty was beheaded {"The Youth that beheaded Shorty Shea appeared to be a complete idiot" - according to Vince Bugliosi, in "Helter Skelter."}, the reality was that no one knew for sure that Shea was dead and there was always a fear in the back of LE's mind that one day, Shorty could conceivably walk into a cop station somewhere and say "Here I am !" This would have not only seriously embarrassed the whole of LA law enforcement, it would pour serious doubt on every one of the Family convictions. Appeals galore would be the order of the day. And probably lawsuits {civil or otherwise} from Shorty's various strands of family.
Grogan ended all of that. And finally ended any rumours of beheadings and dismemberings into 9 pieces.
Susan, on the other hand, went to her grave, never having accepted the Court's findings, which has always been mandatory in a parole hearing involving the Family. By continually saying that she never stabbed Sharon Tate, each of her parole hearings were in effect non-starters, despite all of the detail that went into them. And then saying things like Linda Kasabian went into the Cielo house when she'd previously said she hadn't {in her Grand Jury testimony, which she went back on, which then meant it could be used against her}, and it was a matter of court record that she hadn't, said, in so many words, that Susan wasn't being honest. And no way, even back in 2009, paralysed down one side and minus a leg and just about able to mutter a slurred word here and there, was California LE going to release on compassionate grounds, the woman who boasted to the world that she'd told Sharon Tate, 8½ months pregnant, that she was going to die and that she had no mercy for her and who had told Ouisch that she was the last to die because she had to watch the others die. Atkins, regardless of her condition, was always seen as depraved, in a way that Pat and Leslie never were, and if there ever was a cautionary tale of the chickens coming home to roost, it was her.
So her situation was always entirely different to that of Steve Grogan's. And both were entirely different to that of Leslie's.
ColScott said:
It will be reminded that Pat fled the State
But not while she was wanted for murder. When she fled to Mobile, she was a free citizen that was unknown at the time, other than minor arrests that never stuck in any meaningful way. And in countering the claim that she fled the state, she could just as easily and powerfully state that she waived extradition and came back voluntarily to face the music......because, foolishly, she did.
Thanks for sharing, Deb. Best wishes.
But I don't understand how Leslie was the one to get out. Katie was told to go with Tex and do what he said. Leslie heard about the carnage AND WANTED TO GO THE SECOND NIGHT. Katie has said she didn't want to do that again but didn't have a choice to make.
Grim you are exactly correct in your assessment of why Clem go out and Susan stayed in. EXACTLY. Which is the point I was going for. When you can show that Clem go out earlier than the others for reasons that have nothing to do with "Insight into the crimes", or "expressing appropriate understanding and remorse for their crimes", yet hold that up as reasons for not releasing the others- it does give some the right to argue that they are being held for political reasons ( political prisoners) Clem helping them with Shorty was not done out of remorse or insight to his crimes. He did it to walk. The government knew then what I am saying now about how the others would use this, so they did a good job of cleaning Clem up and letting everyone know how reformed and changed he was.
I also agree with Medium Patty ( That Patty?) that Leslie asking to go knowing what would happen is worse than the others going on the first night ( possibly) not 100% sure. But Pat did know the second night for sure and did go anyway, and that leads me to COL- who I also agree with. Pat had just too much involvement to compare with any of the other girls. She also did flee, and that makes it worse. She knew even back then what she did was wrong and she was one of the few to get it enough to get the hell out of there. The only person who you can compare Pat too is Tex.
Like I have always said. I wouldn't have let any of them out period. I read that California is trying to clean out the prisons these days, and it seems that Kim Kardashian sending Trump a letter is enough to get you walked in some cases. Once they let LULU go, the shock value of setting them free starts to wane a little as well. I hope I am wrong about Pat getting out. I really do.
I guess we will see...
That was Gibbie. LVH wasn't there that night.
Thanks everyone for your concern. I am still dealing with health issues, I have another surgery next month. Once I get through the next steps in my recovery I should be fine. I couldn't let this topic go without putting up a post though.
I wish you all the best Deb :)
Rehabilitation or punishment? I thought the former was important, or am I old-fashioned? And what about recidivism?
Also, healing vibes and best of outcomes, DebS! 8-)
Loegria it is an interesting question. I once myself wrote extensively about the idea of the value of a life sentence versus the value of a life? What is the purpose of prison in the first place goes right along with that I think. Do we think we can rehabilitate a drunken teenager who made one bad mistake and killed a car full of people versus a drugged out teenager who does vicious murder two nights in a row to kill the same? Do we punish them the equally or differently based on the number of victims, or the actual severity of the crime?
I have been contemplating and arguing these concepts for years only to finally realize....
I just don't know lol But if we are considering Recidivism- which without looking it up lol- I believe means the chances they will commit crime again- I still need to understand how Clem was considered less likely to go back to crime at a considerably younger age, and much les time served, was less likely than a woman such as Susan who had amputations and was unable to sit up in bed when they deemed her still a potential threat. It was utter ridiculous to me. And to say that Pat and Leslie hadn't shown enough remorse and insight after 40 years- but Clem did after half that time is also ridiculous. It just seems the goalpost has moved recently. It used to be "Not Shown enough remorse", and now it seems the bar is "Gained insight into participation of the crimes". It almost seems like they are giving in advance the reason to let Pat go based on how they changed the standard with LULU.
But again- I hope I am wrong.
than a woman such as Susan who had amputations and was unable to sit up in bed when they deemed her still a potential threat.
Perhaps they were worried about her influencing others?
And Elwood Blues considered himself a recidivist, FWW. 8-)
No mate, you're not wrong. Well, not totally ! 😅
Actually, Clem did actively show, over about 4 or 5 years of parole hearings {some of the transcripts -or part of them- are on Col's site} that he had gained a real insight into the workings of that period and his part in it. And he showed a huge dollop of remorse. Forget Susan. Because she never even got to first base in accepting the court's judgement of her, she was never going to get out, brain cancer or not. Whether Clem was thought to be less dangerous isn't really relevant. Remember, in those days, {the 70s- '85-ish}, rehabilitation was a real thing, many people believed in it and Clem wasn't truly one of the high profile murder media vampires. Steve Grogan's name didn't resonate like Charles Manson's or any of the women, even if the women's names weren't known by all and sundry. Just the name, "The Manson Women," was enough to strike the right mixture of fear and/or discomfort in many people that remembered that period.
But after a period, the Manson renunciation and rehabilitation combined with the "possibility of parole" bit of the sentence got people spinning their tops again and so this whole thing about insight into the crime became the stick with which the perps were to be beaten with, time and time again. It worked at first, especially when some of their mistakes in prison were highlighted and made to seem even worse than the crimes they'd originally committed. The daftest thing I used to note in the transcripts was always the bit where someone would say they were not there to re-try the case. It was obvious to all and sundry that that may have been the legal reality....but it wasn't the peoples' reality. The cases were retried over and over, things would come up involving matters that sometimes didn't even pertain to the perp whose hearing it was.
But that only goes so far. Jerry Brown did every thing he could to justify what could not be justified. And it wasn't even that people like myself, who weren't crying because a lifetime incarceration of a perp who had committed murder, wanted any of them out. It was the mockery of the very responsibility and justice that various people that had sworn to uphold, by those very people. And they played themselves out. The perps like Leslie would tell you way, way, more than 1000 psychoanalysts could ever dredge up and understand....and then the guv would say "She hasn't shown sufficient insight." No more insight can be shown by Leslie, Tex, Pat and Bruce. Clem showed a sufficient amount for a pretty young man, at the end of the '70s. It's really only Bobby that has continued to play fast and loose in that dept. The family members who naturally want the perps to stay inside have, in my view, rather shot themselves in the foot over the last few years and now we're at that place where all the things in the favour of family, politics and LE, have started slithering into the sea like Robert Shaw into Jaws' mouth. Life may be a continuum, but it doesn't only continue in one direction. The winds of change blow in different directions at different times. I personally was surprised that Pat even got a recommendation that first time. Especially after the previous decision. But that gave notice that maybe the wind was changing again. And then Bruce got bombed and I could see that those on the side of LE were pretty much in a mess.
Who knows where it will end for Pat. But all I know is this. Once, they were all sentenced to death. Then in a retrial, one of them got a hung jury. LE had to do some naughty fiddling to get her convicted. Then one got released. 40 years later, another got released. And now they routinely get recommendations of parole. Sometimes they get batted back, but just the fact that, whereas for 40-odd years, it was all "Denied ! Denied ! Denied !", it is now often "Recommended !", well, in that, regardless of what actually happens, I see a change.
That was aimed at you, St. 👍🏾
Grim you are a very interesting and intelligent guy. Really. Daftest and the other words you use are so cool lol. I think you are right about Bobby, and I agree with that you wrote about Pat. I too see a change although maybe we are not talking about the same one?
"Spinning their tops" another great phrase. I do not want to get off track here, but sometime I would love to hear your opinions about a guy I have recently Taken a very serious interest in . Syd Barret. I heard about Pink Floyd at some point in 1980's in High School. It was the Wall and Dark Side of Moon years. It was a little dark for me, but we played it as it was popular at time. I only recently understood Syd and his story. I am going through sort of my Manson, and Scientology years of obsession over him, and Pink Floyd recently lol. I bet you would know something about that. I would love to hear- Because I do respect your intelligence and knowledge.
But back to Pat and her potential freedom :)
Things are sounding good, Deb. Thanks for updating us.
Putting in my 2 cents on Barrett, I personally believe he's been wildly overrated and lionized far beyond his actual worth as a singer/songwriter. Yes, he wrote a tiny handful of good psychedelic classics ("See Emily Play" and "Astronomy Domine" are the best), but he purposely wrecked his brain on acid and, in the process, pretty much destroyed his songwriting ability.
I think perhaps the 'lionizsation' of Syd Barrett lies in the tragedy of what his life became rather than his musicianship per se. He really is the poster boy for "Don't do it kids."
I didn't mean to highjack the blog. Pat is worth much conversation. The parole thing always pushed my buttons... But as for Syd for one more second lol
I was never really a huge Pink Floyd guy. I got the Wall for Christmas one year, and later in life bought a DVD of the movie but only watched it once. It was just too depressing for me. I somehow only became seriously aware of Syd - other than his name- a few weeks when doing an internet search about Acid casualties. But like anything I get an interest in- I am in process of going all in lol It seems when I play Arnold Layne and See Emily Play- I hear 800 Miles High by the Byrds and Interstellar reminds of Some Dead jams. I am trying to match dates and see if one influenced the other. Growing up in the mid 70's I missed the real heyday of Acid and only took it twice myself. Mushrooms gave me a stomach ache and I threw up so I only did those once. I did know some kids who did it alot though, and some of them got a little weird and some really weird and I did know a couple of kids who get completely changed- similar to what it sounds like Syd went through. It seems that some people just have a different chemistry, and ability to handle it. But boy is the Syd story a weird one. Without the social media capabilities and camera phones we have today- alot of the information I can get is interviews with the others and stories from friends. Most of filling in the blanks is left to our imaginations and much like the Manson case, I think it makes the story more compelling.
Personally, I like the stuff they did with Syd. As I mentioned earlier, later Pink Floyd was too depressing for me. Arnold Layne and See Emily Play seem more like pop songs to me. Although Waters and Gilmour were obviously incredible guitar players and their music had its own genius, I am very curious where the direction would have went had Syd stayed. He also seemed like such an interesting personality and for him to just change that fast and the way he acted after- for the rest of his life- is just so unusual. Early on it seemed he faded away, but after some research it seems they may have just tossed him out. As much as they wrote songs about the pitfalls of greed, money, and the music " Machine" Roger Waters in one interview I watched- pretty much admitted at one point Syd was starting to affect their chances "To earn some quid" and no matter who or what the story is about- it never seems to end well for everybody when money starts to get involved...
Ahhh the late 60's. It seems England had its own characters and lifestyle going on across the pond. I read Graham Nash autobiography years ago and I forgot that London had a "summer of love" and psychedelic movements as well. I was born in 67 and by the time I got to that wonderful period of teenage life what we had going on was a much different musical direction- DISCO.
So keep that in mind when you try to understand me lol ;)
Post a Comment