蜜芽传媒

Leslie Van Houten walked out of a California prison on Tuesday after serving 53 years of a life sentence for her participation in two infamous murders that dominated the news at the end of the 1960s.

She was a devotee of Charles Manson - considered one of America's most notorious cult leaders - who directed his followers or members of the "Manson family" to kill nine people.

Then 19, Ms Van Houten took part in the murder of a Los Angeles grocer and his wife in 1969.

Newsday asked her lawyer, Nancy Tetreault, if her client - who was denied parole 21 times previously - is remorseful.

"The court imposed an indeterminate life sentence which in California means life with the possibility of parole. She had a long job of detaching herself from the cult mentality and accepting responsibility for her crimes. It took her a long time. She had decades of therapy. So she felt guilt and deep remorse."

(Pic: Leslie Van Houten speaking a parole hearing; Credit: Getty Images)