TMZ<\/a>, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has recommended Krenwinkel for parole.<\/p>\nBut this is the third time they\u2019ve done so, and the 78-year-old is still behind bars.<\/p>\n
The reason? Newsom used his power as governor to veto her release on both prior occasions.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s not the only thing standing in her way this time.<\/p>\n
But after the Board of Parole Hearings approves Krenwinkel\u2019s parole \u2014 which it likely will \u2014 Newsom could secure her release with a stroke of his pen.<\/p>\n
\nUnfortunately for Krenwinkel, the timing couldn\u2019t be much worse.<\/p>\n
We\u2019re just weeks away from midterm elections that might cripple the Trump administration for the rest of its time in office.<\/p>\n
And Newsom has almost certainly set his sights on a White House run in 2028.<\/p>\n
Releasing a high-profile inmate like Krenwinkel would be playing right into the hands of Republicans who seek to portray the presidential hopeful as soft on crime.<\/p>\n
And since Newsom already vetoed Krenwinkel\u2019s release twice, it seems almost certain that he\u2019ll do so a third time under these tense circumstances.<\/p>\n
Sadly, the political concerns are now overshadowing the more pertinent questions raised by this situation.<\/p>\n
Should an elderly woman remain locked up for the rest of her days because of atrocities she committed in her youth? And if the Manson murderers were under the thrall of a master manipulator, were they fully responsible for their crimes?<\/p>\n
At the end of the day, Krenwinkel was involved in the murders of innocent people, and she absolutely had a profound debt to repay to society.<\/p>\n
But the recent botched execution of Christa Pike<\/a> has sparked a renewed debate over prisoners and death row inmates who are still paying for crimes committed in their youth many decades later.<\/p>\nAnd now, Gavin Newsom finds himself at the center of that debate at a very crucial point in his career.<\/p>\n
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