Patricia Krenwinkel, imprisoned for nearly six decades for her role in the 1969 Tate-LaBianca murders, has been preliminarily granted parole by California officials after her eighteenth suitability hearing. She now faces mandatory reviews before any release.
Krenwinkel is currently held at the California Institution for Women in Corona and remains the woman with the longest term in California state prison. California’s board of parole hearings has recommended freedom for her marking the third time the 78-year-old inmate has won approval for release.
Board Grants Third Parole Recommendation
Krenwinkel was convicted of seven counts of first-degree murder in 1971 alongside fellow Manson family members.
Prosecutors established that she participated in the August 9, 1969, killings of actress Sharon Tate—who was seven months pregnant—alongside Thomas Jay Sebring, Abigail Ann Folger, Wojciech Frykowski, and Steven Earl Parent. The following day, she participated in the slayings of grocers Leno LaBianca and his wife, Rosemary.
State officials confirmed that Krenwinkel is serving a life prison term following her 1971 conviction, having originally received a death sentence that was commuted after the death penalty was ruled unconstitutional in 1972.
During the bloody summer of 1969, the Manson family members broke into the Benedict Canyon home of Tate and her husband, Roman Polanski. Krenwinkel and her co-defendants, Susan Atkins and Leslie Van Houten, at one point appeared in court with an X carved on their foreheads to match the mark worn by Charles Manson.
Attorneys Cite Decades of Rehabilitation
Keith Wattley, founder and executive director of UnCommon Law and counsel for Krenwinkel, stated that she has participated in extensive therapy and group counseling to confront her history as both a perpetrator and survivor of violence.
Attorneys representing Krenwinkel emphasize her decades of clean disciplinary records and consistent psychological evaluations. Wattley noted that she fully accepts responsibility for everything she contributed to and every life she destroyed in 1969, while her defense attorneys and advocates have argued that the governor previously caved to political pressures when denying freedom to individuals convicted in high-profile cases.
Reaching this moment has taken decades of hard, deliberate work to confront who she was, what she did, and the devastating harm she caused.
Keith Wattley, Attorney for Patricia Krenwinkel
Debra Tate, the sister of Sharon Tate, has continuously fought to keep the former followers of Manson incarcerated, opposing release efforts.
She established an online petition that has garnered more than 100,000 signatures since 2016, writing that Society cannot allow this serial killer who committed such horrible, gruesome, random killings back out.
Governor Newsom Faces Review Decision
Governor Gavin Newsom reversed both decisions when parole panels previously approved Krenwinkel’s release in May 2022 and May 2025.
While Newsom acknowledged her rehabilitative milestones—including earning college degrees, maintaining an excellent disciplinary history, and enduring abuse under Charles Manson—he concluded that public safety risks outweighed those factors.
“When considered as a whole, I find the evidence shows that she currently poses an unreasonable danger to society if released from prison at this time. Therefore, I reverse the decision to parole Ms. Krenwinkel,”
Gov. Gavin Newsom
The current preliminary decision initiates a mandatory 120-day review by the Board of Parole Hearings. Because the conviction involves murder, the governor will retain a subsequent 30-day window to allow the ruling to stand or issue a reversal. State guidelines note that all grants of parole remain proposed decisions until they complete this thorough administrative review.
Will Governor Gavin Newsom allow this preliminary parole grant to stand or will he reverse the decision for a third time?
