A California parole panel preliminarily granted Patricia Krenwinkel parole in the Tate-LaBianca murders.

A preliminary grant is a proposal on a review clock, not a release date. City News Service reported that corrections officials said every parole grant stays proposed until the Board of Parole Hearings and the governor finish their review, and that Newsom reversed Krenwinkel's May 30, 2025 grant on Oct. 13, 2025, after reversing an earlier grant in 2022. If he reverses this one, the department said she would be set for another hearing within 18 months of Tuesday's hearing.

City News Service reported that on Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026, Patricia Krenwinkel, 78, was preliminarily granted parole at a suitability hearing while she continues to serve a life term for seven counts of first-degree murder. NBC Los Angeles and FOX 11 Los Angeles reported the same preliminary grant, citing the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. FOX 11 reported the department confirmed it on Wednesday. The department said, "All grants of parole are proposed decisions and become final only after a thorough and comprehensive review by the Board of Parole Hearings and the Governor." City News Service, citing the department, described the proceeding as her 18th subsequent suitability hearing. KCRA, also citing the department, described it as her 17th suitability hearing. KCRA reported she has been incarcerated for 57 years and, after Leslie Van Houten's release in 2023, is the woman with the longest term in a California state prison. A panel's yes starts the review. It does not open the gate.

The preliminary decision is subject to a 120-day review by the Board of Parole Hearings, City News Service reported. Because Krenwinkel was convicted of murder, the governor then has an additional 30 days to review the decision and may allow it to stand or reverse it. If the governor reverses it, the department said she would be scheduled for another hearing within 18 months of Tuesday's hearing. Those two clocks are what stand between this hearing and any release.

Krenwinkel was convicted in 1971 of seven counts of first-degree murder for participating with Charles "Tex" Watson and Leslie Van Houten in the Aug. 9, 1969, killings of pregnant actress Sharon Tate, Thomas Jay Sebring, Abigail Ann Folger, Wojciech Frykowski, and Steven Earl Parent, and in the killings of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca the next day, City News Service reported. She was sentenced to death. That penalty was reduced to life in prison under a California Supreme Court ruling that invalidated all death sentences imposed before 1972. The convictions are the judgment. Tuesday's hearing did not retry them.

The parole board granted Krenwinkel parole on May 30, 2025, and Gov. Gavin Newsom reversed that decision on Oct. 13, 2025, City News Service reported. In the reversal, Newsom commended her "efforts to improve herself in prison," including earning multiple college degrees and maintaining "an excellent disciplinary history," and then wrote, "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." A panel had also recommended parole in May 2022, and Newsom reversed that decision later the same year. KCRA reported that lawyers with UnCommon Law, who represent Krenwinkel, say she has a spotless disciplinary record and that evaluations over the past 40 years have found her to be a low risk to public safety. The firm told KCRA she was 19 when she came under Charles Manson's influence and that he "exploited that vulnerability through manipulation, drugs, and psychological abuse." Those are the defense's statements. They are not the governor's finding, and he has not said what he will do with this grant. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.