California governor blocks Charles Manson follower's parole

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By DON THOMPSON

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California’s governor blocked the parole of Charles Manson follower Patricia Krenwinkel on Friday, more than five decades after she scrawled “Helter Skelter” on a wall using the blood of one of their victims.

Gov. Gavin Newsom said Krenwinkel, now 74, is still too much of a public safety risk to be freed.

“Ms. Krenwinkel fully accepted Mr. Manson’s racist, apocalyptical ideologies,” Newsom said. “Ms. Krenwinkel was not only a victim of Mr. Manson’s abuse. She was also a significant contributor to the violence and tragedy that became the Manson Family’s legacy.”

A two-member parole panel for the first time in May recommended that Krenwinkel be released, after she previously had been denied parole 14 times. Newsom has previously rejected parole recommendations for other followers of Manson, who died in prison in 2017.



FILE - Former Manson family member and convicted murderer Patricia Krenwinkel listens to the ruling denying her parole, at a hearing at the California Institution for Women in Corona, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 20, 2011. California Gov. Gavin Newsom blocked Krenwinkel's parole, Friday Oct. 14, 2022, saying that she is still too much of a public safety risk. A two-member parole panel for the first time time, in May 2022, had recommended Krenwinkel's release. Krenwinkel, 74, was previously denied parole 14 times for the slayings of pregnant actress Sharon Tate and four other people in 1969. The next night, Krenwinkel helped kill grocer Leno LaBianca and his wife, Rosemary. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon, File)


Read more: https://apnews.com/article/entertainment-california-gavin-newsom-charles-manson-patricia-krenwinkel-b844a0f99380616c5691e1ff8628eeca?utm_source=Connatix&utm_medium=HomePage

[Haggard Celine]

1. Nobody wants to be the guy who

turns loose of the Manson Family. Probably nothing would happen if he let Krenwinkel go, but if something did happen, he would certainly get the blame.

[SouthBayDem]

11. Plus, Newsim is up for re-election in november

Even as (D) favorable that California is, this decision is a no brainier.

[JohnSJ]

2. Good. Glad he did that with sirhan sirhan also

[hlthe2b]

6. I am extremely supportive of that decision.

I still can't get over sons, RFK JR and Douglas, going against their own mother, Ethel (and six other siblings) to lobby for his release. Unbelievable.

[JohnSJ]

9. RFK Jr is not all there, pushing his anti-Vax, and anti-science, conspiracy agenda. I don't

know anything about Douglas

[jstephenj]

32. Him and Leslie Van Houten and hopefully....

the Menendez brothers now that they're trying to drum up support from their followers on social media to petition for a retrial.

[Shermann]

3. Yeah, no real political upside to greenlighting that one nt

[TurboDem]

4. Good. She's right where she belongs.

I can also think of some other people who should be right there with her.

[twodogsbarking]

5. If you have not watched "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" you should.

It is very well done. I didn't know the meaning of the title until I watched the movie.

[hlthe2b]

7. I haven't seen that movie, but I just learned for the first time that Angela Lansbury moved family

to Ireland to deal with her then-teenage daughter's apparent fixation on a young man--Charles Manson. I knew about others who came into his sphere--Doris Day's son, the Beach Boys, and others. But, I hadn't known the story about the Lansbury daughter. Whew, was she a smart mother.

[ShazzieB]

8. That's a new one on me, too.

I've read quite a bit about the Manson family but wasn't aware of that--very interesting!

[3Hotdogs]

10. Politics --- yes. But somehow, I don't get how this is justice.

Even more so with Sirhan.

[Lucky Luciano]

14. Murder of that nature means society disposes of you and that is just.

[LeftInTX]

20. Sirhan is a nutjob

He would not last in society for long

[LudwigPastorius]

25. Re: justice

She was found guilty of seven counts of first degree murder.

You don't think life in prison is warranted for that?

[honest.abe]

12. I am surprised her sentence included parole at all.

Should have been life without parole... imo.

[Demsrule86]

13. She was orgininally sentenced to death...she killed two of the victims herself...when the

the death penalty was overturned...sentences were commuted to life with parole. She needs to stay in jail.

[DENVERPOPS]

15. I view life without parole

as being a FAR worse punishment than the death penalty. Look no further than McVeigh, he was sentenced to LWP in Colorado Super Max and in six months was begging for the death penalty.....Sadly the courts honored his wish.

I could make a list of at least a couple of hundred of Trump's minions as candidates for Colorado Super Max for their assisting Trump DAILY FOR OVER SIX YEARS for making it hell on earth for all of us while they were ecstatic in their destruction of the U.S. Economy and our blessed Democracy...... starting with every last Republican U.S. Senator, Trump's entire spawn and Jared, Trump's entire cabinet, and all of his advisors and Judicial appointees.

Then I would take a deep breath and start another list.

Super Max is truly a sentence for living like hell on earth, only reserved for the very worst vermin in the human race.....

A perfect sentence at CSM for Trump would be having to clean up, with his bare hands, the toilets in each of the other prisoners cells while each of the prisoners were taken to the shower for a half hour each day........Having to clean up other's shit would be the perfect thing for the man who created so much of it, for so many citizens of the U.S.

[onetexan]

18. Mcveigh deserved the death penalty

Same w this manson lady

[DENVERPOPS]

19. Seriously think about that

as I stated: Rotting in a prison every day for the rest of your life is far worse punishment in reality.

[onetexan]

23. I'm well aware. However, the state shldn't have to bear expense to keep alive

A man who not only threw away his own life, he killed, hurt & scarred thousands. There's no rehabing these types of ppl.

[DENVERPOPS]

28. If I am not mistaken

it has been proven that it is cheaper to have them serve a life term, and the cost of all the legal costs to pay for ten appeals.....

[LeftInTX]

22. I believe the death penalty should be reserved for very specific cases/criminals.

I believe society is better off with McVeigh dead.
He was not sentenced to life without parole. He was sentenced to death. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_McVeigh
McVeigh decided to stop his appeals, but he was sentenced to death.
It's not about his suffering, it's about society's.

[The Protagonist]

16. I'll take a contrary view

She has been in prison for well over 50 years. In the interim, I would think hundreds (thousands?) of convicted murders in California have been convicted, and since paroled. Some doubtlessly having committed horrific crimes that just weren't as well known. I don't think the notoriety of a crime is a good reason to keep someone in prison longer than those who committed similar acts.

If she had snuck into someones house alone in 1969 and stabbed a stranger to death she would have been freed decades ago.

[DENVERPOPS]

21. Manson's & crew's next goal

was starting a race war, calling it Helter Skelter, and eliminating all black people from America...........

Sure, his family was all brainwashed, and could be used to think of them more kindly, but............

(Incidentally, does this bring to mind what is currently going on right now in the U.S.?????)

[Shermann]

24. I think the release of most murderers happens on the down low

Most aren't famous and leave prison without much fanfare. Nobody wants a big fuss, let alone a panic. There isn't enough room to imprison every violent criminal, so some are going to have to age out.

The Manson Family terrorized a generation in a unique way. They will never be forgotten and can never be freed inconspicuously. So, they rot.

[PatrickforB]

27. Granted, but most murders happen in the heat of passion. The Manson family murders were

premeditated all the way. Life with no parole is the best bet for this type of murderer.

[Paladin]

17. Good. (nt)

[PatrickforB]

26. The Manson family was a cult, twisted and evil, and its members were

guilty of such heinous crimes that they really can't ever be out on the street, not ever again.

While we should all have compassion for Krenwinkle, just because she is human...parole?

NO. Because she and her twisted family sure didn't have any compassion on the nine people they cruelly murdered, including the pregnant Sharon Tate. And for what? Because Charlie wanted to start a race war?

Sorry.

Newsome is right.

[iluvtennis]

29. Agree w/Gov Newsom's decision to deny parole. What the Manson gang/cult did was abominable. n/t

[Martin68]

38. Yes it was abominable. It occurred more than 40 years ago. She was 22 the time of the murder. She

Last edited Sun Oct 16, 2022, 03:32 PM - Edit history (1)

was brainwashed/indoctrinated by Manson through the use of LSD and peer pressure, as the prosecution argued to find him guilty of the crime even though he was a not present at the scene. Don't we believe in redemption anymore? Mercy? Do you really believe she will go right back out and stab someone to death for no reason? If not, there is no moral or ethical reason to keep her in prison at the age of 62.

[LudwigPastorius]

39. She got more than her helping of mercy when she was given a reprieve of her death sentence.

[Martin68]

40. More mercy immediately after the crime than you are willing to extend so many years later.

"The quality of mercy is not strained. It falleth as the gentle rain of heaven upon the place beneath. It is twice blest: It blesseth him that gives and him that takes."

[BigDemVoter]

30. Good.

They Manson murderers initially got the death penalty till that was overturned, for which I am glad. However, given their original sentence and the nature of the crimes they committed, they should NEVER go free.

[BigDemVoter]

31. Good.

They Manson murderers initially got the death penalty till that was overturned, for which I am glad. However, given their original sentence and the nature of the crimes they committed, they should NEVER go free.

[Hekate]

33. Some people should never go free. Should the many school shooters eventually be freed...

… just because they served 50 years? Sandy Hook? Marjorie Stoneman Douglas? Too many to count by now, and they’ve terrified generations of little kids & changed school forever.

Let. Them. Rot.

[samsingh]

34. Good.

[delisen]

35. Politics over mercy is nothing new. Pontius Pilate and all that stuff.

So many on the left have taken a right turn. Sign of the times.

Some governors remind me of a character in a Grisham novel. It was the one about the hateful kkk character and his estranged son, and the governor who gets to decide on whether to execute.

I recommend the movie. I may watch it again myself.

[keithbvadu2]

36. If she had killed schoolchildren, Alex Jones would be making excuses for her.

If she had killed schoolchildren, Alex Jones would be making excuses for her.

[Martin68]

37. Give me a break. This is just about "tough on crime" politics. She is harmless except as a

Republican weapon against the Democrats. She was a very, very young and was manipulated by Manson with LSD and peer pressure. That was the prosecution's case against Manson, who wasn't present at the crime scene.