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Patricia Krenwinkel, a former member of the infamous Manson family who committed a series of horrifying killings in Los Angeles, has been granted parole, but her final decision on freedom now rests on Gov. Gavin Newsom.
In a statement to the Times, her lawyer said 50 years later, behind the bar, it was time for Klenwinkel to be parole.
“Pat accepted full responsibility for everything she did, everything she contributed. All the twisted philosophy she accepted and supported, and most importantly, all the life she destroyed by her actions,” said Keith Watley, representing the inmates at a parole hearing. “Patricia Krenwinkel should be parole because she publicly declares that California believes in redemption and rehabilitation.”
Klenwinkel was approved for parole Friday. This was the second time the state’s parole board reached its decision in 54 years in state prisons. In May 2022, Krenwinkel was approved for parole, but the decision was reversed by Newsom.
The governor’s office did not immediately respond to questions about whether to reverse the latest decision to grant Clenwinkel’s parole.
The parole decision will be final after 120 days, as long as it is cleared by the Parole Board law firm, and will then be sent to Newsom, where there are 30 days to decide whether to reverse the Parole Board decision.
During his 54 years in state prisons, Krenwinkel participated in treatment and group counseling to address what Watley described as a role as a perpetrator and survivor of violence. She has also faced nine consecutive psychological assessments and she is no longer considered to pose a public safety risk, she said in a statement.
This was Krenwinkel’s 16th appearance before the parole board.
Klenwinkel was convicted in 1971 for the murders of actress Sharon Tate and six other members of the Manson family during the two-day fatal murder in Los Angeles. She was originally sentenced to death, but in 1972, she lived in prison with the possibility of parole after the death penalty was determined to be unconstitutional.
Klenwinkel was one of the Manson followers who invaded the Benedict Canyon house in Sharon Tate and her husband, Roma Polanski. Tate and the other four were stabbed and shot during the attack.
The famous trial of the Manson family made Manson and some of his followers some of the most infamous criminals of the 20th century.
Krenwinkel testified during the trial that he stabbed him more than twice as much before chasing the heir to the coffee company, Abigail Folger. She also testified that she used blood to write “Death to the Pig” on the walls of the house.
Along with co-defendants Susan Atkins and Leslie Van Houten, at one point Krenwinkel appeared in court with an X carved into her pioneer, as Manson did.
Sharon Tate’s sister, Debra Tate, was an outspoken advocate for keeping Clenwinkel and other Manson followers behind the bar.
“Society cannot allow this serial killer who has regained such a horrible, frightening, random killing,” she wrote in an online petition that has been created in 2016 and has received over 116,000 signatures.
In an online petition, she urged supporters to send a letter to Newsom to oppose Krenwinkel’s release. She did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Despite the horror and infamous nature of the crime, Klenwinkel’s lawyers argued that she should be considered for parole.
“No matter how serious and distracting the facts of a crime, if a person is sentenced to parole qualifying, our law requires that they be released as no longer in danger,” he said in a statement.
A former member of the so-called Manson family, now an elderly prisoner, faces several parole hearings that have been completely denied.
Other former Manson followers, including Charles Denton “Tex” Watson (79, Robert Kenneth Beausolire (77), and 82-year-old Bruce Davis, are in custody in California prisons.
However, in 2023, Van Gauteng was granted parole and released. Newsom had denied an earlier decision to grant Van Gauteng parole, but was rejected by a court of appeals ruling.
When Newsom reversed the Parole Board’s decision to grant Klenwinkel parole in 2022, he said the 77-year-old inmate “has not developed sufficient insight into the factors responsible for her crimes and triggers of antisocial thinking and behavior in the context of maladaptive relationships.”
In a statement issued at the time, Newsom pointed out that Klenwinkel was 21 years old at the time of the murder and had a record of good behavior in prison, but ultimately determined that allowing her to be released was not enough.
At the 2016 hearing, Krenwinkel’s lawyer also pointed out that she was abused by Manson or someone else at the time.
She is currently in custody at a women’s agency in California.
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