A woman who helped Charles Manson murder at least seven people including Sharon Tate in 1969 was denied parole when California Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed her parole request, leaving her to continue serving her life sentence at the age of 77.

Patricia Krenwinkel has requested parole several times since 2016, including in 2022 when the request was approved but vetoed by Newsom.

She was originally sentenced to death in 1971 after her first-degree murder conviction, but her sentence was later reduced to life in prison when the state Supreme Court ruled to outlaw the use of the death penalty for cases decided before 1972.

Now, Newsom has again vetoed her release, which was approved in May.

"Lack of insight"

As Newsom said in 2022, he believes that Krenwinkel showed "a significant lack of insight into her own internal processes that led to her decision to join, support, and help execute Mr. Manson’s terror campaign."

Her lawyer Keith Wattley has argued that Krenwinkel suffered abuse from Manson and deserves to be released because of that and her age. In 1969, she looked like a hippie with hair to her waist, but now she just looks like an old lady who wouldn't hurt a fly.

Newsom acknowledged that she has made progress since being incarcerated 56 years ago, but still thinks "she exhibits some deficits in self-awareness, such as a tendency to externalize blame for her prior transgressions."

Her lawyer said that Newson's reason for vetoing her release is "political," and that it violates statutes about her status as a survivor of domestic violence.

The arguments

He pointed out that she has not violated any prison rules during her sentence and has earned college degrees while incarcerated.

The parole board "determined that Pat has since found her own identity, independence, and moral compass."

Newsom believes her release still poses an "unreasonable" danger to society, however.

Only California and Oklahoma permit the governor to veto parole decisions, though most states permit the governor to pardon criminals or alter their sentences, such as from the death penalty to life in prison.

Newsom also vetoed the release of another Manson follower, Leslie Van Houten, in 2022, but an appeals court released her in 2023. The third woman involved in the killings, Susan Atkins, died of cancer in prison in 2009.

It's kind of weird that Newsom, who is not generally tough on crime, has put his foot down like this, but maybe he thinks it will help his ultimate goal of being president one day.