Manson follower Leslie Van Houten recommended for parole; Brown gets final say

In this April 14, 2016, file photo, former Charles Manson follower Leslie Van Houten confers with her attorney, during a break from her hearing before the California Board of Parole Hearings at the California Institution for Women in Chino, Calif. less In this April 14, 2016, file photo, former Charles Manson follower Leslie Van Houten confers with her attorney, during a break from her hearing before the California Board of Parole Hearings at the California ... more Photo: Nick Ut, Associated Press Photo: Nick Ut, Associated Press Image 1 of / 49 Caption Close Manson follower Leslie Van Houten recommended for parole; Brown gets final say 1 / 49 Back to Gallery

Leslie Van Houten, the youngest follower of murderous cult leader Charles Manson, was recommended for parole Wednesday by a state panel for a second year in a row for two 1969 murders.

Her release is now in the hands of Gov. Jerry Brown, who vetoed it last year.

The two-member Board of Parole Hearings panel found Van Houten, 68, suitable for release after a hearing at the California Institution for Women in Corona (Riverside County), where she is imprisoned.

She had been denied release at 19 previous hearings since becoming eligible for parole in 1979. But last year a board panel found her release would pose no risk to the public and noted her age, 19, at the time of the killings, her acceptance of responsibility and her record of good behavior in prison.

But Brown, who under a voter-approved law has the last word on parole of prisoners serving life sentences, was unpersuaded in 2016.

“Both her role in these extraordinarily brutal crimes and her inability to explain her willing participation in such horrific violence cannot be overlooked and lead me to believe she remains an unacceptable risk to society if released,” the governor said. A judge upheld his decision, finding there was evidence to support it.

Brown, who earlier this year vetoed the parole of another Manson follower, Bruce Davis, has 150 days to decide on Van Houten.

A former homecoming queen who was using drugs heavily when she fell in with Manson, Van Houten accompanied other members of his so-called family on a murder mission to the Los Angeles-area home of grocer Leno LaBianca and his wife, Rosemary, in August 1969.

According to testimony, Manson follower Charles “Tex” Watson stabbed Leno LaBianca, then started to stab his wife before telling Van Houten to take over. Van Houten admitted stabbing Rosemary LaBianca 14 times.

Arrested four months later, she described the murders to police, and later took responsibility in trial testimony while trying to minimize Manson’s role. Van Houten, Manson and three others were sentenced to death for the killings, but their sentences were reduced to life with the possibility of parole when the state Supreme Court overturned California’s death penalty law in 1972.

In recent parole board appearances, Van Houten has repudiated Manson, saying she took responsibility for “helping to create him,” and expressed remorse for her crimes.

Van Houten’s lawyer, Richard Pfeiffer, said Wednesday that he hopes to win the governor’s approval for parole this time. He said newly obtained evidence discredited a former Manson follower who had said Van Houten was free to leave Manson’s compound, an assertion Brown cited in denying parole last year.

Pfeiffer also said 117 current prisoners and many former inmates had told the parole panel that Van Houten helped them get high school and college degrees and guided them through rehabilitation.

“I know that she’s going to get out,” the lawyer said. “I don’t know if it’s (through) the governor or the courts. But she’s going to go home.”

Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com