Patricia Krenwinkel, Charles Manson Follower, Denied Parole; "Crimes Remain Relevant," Says Official
CORONA, Calif. (CBS/AP) California parole board officials denied parole Thursday to Patricia Krenwinkel, one of two surviving female followers of Charles Manson, saying the seven deaths in the infamous 1969 Tate-LaBianca murders still "remain relevant."
PICTURES: The Manson Family Murders
"This is a crime children grow up hearing about," said parole commissioner Susan Melanson. She said they received 80 letters from around the world pressing for Krenwinkel to remain imprisoned. "These crimes remain relevant," said Melanson.
Krenwinkel admitted during her trial that she chased down and stabbed heiress Abigail Folger at the Tate home on Aug. 9, 1969 and participated in the stabbing deaths of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca the following night. Both homes were defaced with bloody scrawlings. She was convicted along with Manson, Leslie Van Houten and Susan Atkins, who died in prison last year. Another defendant, Charles "Tex" Watson was convicted in a separate trial.
All were sentenced to death but their sentences were commuted to life when the U.S. Supreme Court briefly outlawed the death penalty in 1972.
A grey-haired Krenwinkel, now 63, wept and apologized after Melanson and Deputy Commissioner Steven Hernandez issued their decision.
"I'm just haunted each and every day by the unending suffering of the victims, the enormity and degree of suffering I've caused," she said.
In her 40 years at the California Institution for Women, Krenwinkel has earned a bachelor's degree and participated in numerous self help programs as well as teaching illiterate prisoners how to read. In recent years, she has been involved in a program to train service dogs for the disabled.
Krenwinkel, who has had a discipline-free record in prison, said that she is rehabilitated, but that claim was met with ire and opposition from prosecutors and families of the victims.
"If Patricia Krenwinkel has remorse, I don't see how she could walk into this room," said a tearful Anthony Di Maria, the nephew of Jay Sebring, who was killed along with actress Sharon Tate. "No punishment could atone for the cold-blooded murders in this case."
