Fifty-seven years after one of the most notorious murder sprees in American history, a California parole board has once again recommended freedom for Patricia Krenwinkel — a woman who carried out killings at the direction of cult leader Charles Manson. The decision marks the third time a parole panel has found her suitable for release, setting the stage for another review by Governor Gavin Newsom.
Krenwinkel was among a group of Manson followers convicted in connection with the Tate-LaBianca murders of 1969, a wave of killings that left seven people dead. Manson orchestrated the attacks believing they would ignite a racial conflict. One of the victims was actress Sharon Tate, who was eight and a half months pregnant at the time of her death.
Five individuals stood trial for the crimes: Krenwinkel, Charles Manson, Tex Watson, Susan Atkins, and Leslie Van Houten. All five received death sentences. That changed in 1972, when the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling that halted executions across the country. With capital punishment temporarily suspended, every death sentence in California — including those of the Manson defendants — was automatically converted to life imprisonment.
Since then, Krenwinkel has remained behind bars longer than any of her co-defendants. Van Houten, the last of the group to be imprisoned alongside her, was released in 2023 after the full parole board overturned a reversal by Governor Newsom. That left Krenwinkel as the woman who has spent the most time incarcerated in California state history.
A Parole Process Still Unresolved
Krenwinkel received her third parole recommendation at her 17th suitability hearing. But under California law, a recommendation from a parole panel is not the final word. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation clarified the next steps in a statement.
“All grants of parole are proposed decisions and become final only after a thorough and comprehensive review by the Board of Parole Hearings and the Governor,”
the CDCR said.
In murder cases, the governor has an additional 30 days beyond the board’s standard 120-day review window to personally weigh in. Newsom can allow the recommendation to stand, or he can reverse it. If he reverses it, Krenwinkel would be scheduled for another hearing within 18 months. Newsom reversed a prior parole grant for Krenwinkel last year, and he initially did the same for Van Houten in 2023 before the full board overturned that decision and she was released.
Governor Newsom’s office directed media inquiries to the CDCR and had not publicly stated whether he would intervene in the latest decision.
What Krenwinkel’s Attorneys Are Arguing
Attorneys from the firm UnCommon Law, who represent Krenwinkel, say she has maintained a clean disciplinary record throughout her decades of incarceration. They note that forensic evaluations conducted over the past 40 years have consistently rated her as a low risk to public safety.
They also point to her age — just 19 — when Manson drew her into his orbit, arguing she was a young woman looking for a sense of belonging. According to the attorneys, Manson
“exploited that vulnerability through manipulation, drugs, and psychological abuse. Over the decades since, Pat has worked to understand how she became capable of causing such profound harm and to take responsibility for the consequences of her actions.”
The firm has also raised broader concerns, arguing that political pressure
“is increasingly threatening the integrity of parole decisions in California.”
For its part, the CDCR defended the board’s track record, noting that more than 96% of individuals released following a parole hearing are not convicted of another crime within three years — a recidivism rate it described as among the best in the nation. The board’s evaluations rely on
“numerous steps and use of validated risk assessment tools, including evaluation by forensic psychologists,”
according to the agency.