Leslie Van Houten, who was sentenced to life for participating in the infamous murders by the Charles Manson cult when she was 19, walked free from a California prison on Tuesday after 53 years behind bars. Van Houten, now 73, was convicted for helping Manson’s followers carry out the 1969 killings of Leno LaBianca, a grocer in Los Angeles, and his wife, Rosemary. She was released from prison in the early morning hours and driven to transitional housing, her attorney, Nancy Tetreault, said. She will now be under parole supervision. The state’s parole board had ruled on four separate occasions, first in 2016, that she was “suitable” for release and not a danger to society, but each time the governor’s office vetoed the decision and ordered she remain incarcerated. Her attorneys challenged the vetoes, and in May, a state appeals court sided with Van Houten, ruling she should be freed. The court noted her accomplishments behind bars, including working as a tutor, earning a master’s degree in humanities and participating in a range of mental health and self-help programs. Van Houten had also received only one write-up in 1981 for “verbally communicating with women”, but otherwise had no disciplinary record over more than five decades in prison, the LA Times reported. Governor Gavin Newsom, who has strongly opposed her release, said last week he was disappointed that the courts ruled in her favor, but said he would not appeal the latest decision since he would be unlikely to succeed. “More than 50 years after the Manson cult committed these brutal offenses, the victims’ families still feel the impact, as do all Californians,” Newsom’s spokesperson told the Guardian last week. Manson died behind bars in 2017 at age 83 after nearly 50 years in prison. Patricia Krenwinkel, another former Manson follower convicted of murder, was granted parole for the first time last year, but Newsom blocked her release. Susan Atkins, who was convicted of eight murders, died in prison in 2009. Tetreault told the AP that Van Houten would live in a transitional halfway house for roughly a year after her release, adding: “She’s just grateful that people are recognizing that she’s not the same person that she was when she committed the murders.” The attorney said Van Houten was “thrilled and overwhelmed”, adding: “She’s been in prison for 53 years ... She just needs to learn how to use an ATM machine, let alone a cellphone, let alone a computer.” Van Houten’s case has long drawn national attention, and Cory LaBianca, Leno’s daughter who is now 75, said last week she was “heartbroken” about her pending release, telling the AP: “My children and my grandchildren never got an opportunity to get to know either of them, which has been a huge void for my family.” Criminal justice reform activists who advocated for her release have argued Van Houten’s case exposed flaws in the state’s parole process where elderly incarcerated people can be denied release even after a state board rules that they are rehabilitated and pose no threat. Governors have regularly vetoed parole grants in high-profile and politicized cases. California, like states across the country, is home to an ageing population behind bars, which civil rights lawyers say has become a humanitarian crisis.