Los Angeles' top prosecutor on Tuesday asked California Governor Jerry Brown to keep former Charles Manson follower Leslie Van Houten behind bars, despite the recommendation of a parole board that she be released.
"I strongly oppose the release of inmate Van Houten. She poses an unreasonable risk to public safety and is unsuitable for parole at this time," Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey wrote in a five-page letter to Brown.
Van Houten, 66, has been serving a life sentence for the murders of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca, who were stabbed to death in their Los Angeles home on Aug. 9, 1969.
Manson, now 81 and serving a life sentence, directed his mostly young, female followers to murder seven people in what prosecutors said was part of a plan to incite a race war between whites and blacks.
A two-member panel of California's Board of Parole Hearings recommended parole for Van Houten in April after a hearing with her at the state prison in Corona, California, where she is serving her sentence.
Brown can uphold the recommendation, overturn it or order further hearings.
(Reporting by Dan Whitcomb, editing by G Crosse)