Following the arrest of Charles Manson for the Tate-LaBianca murders in 1969, the Manson Family soon disbanded. Manson and many of his coconspirators received the death penalty, but those sentences were later commuted to life imprisonment in 1972 due to a Supreme Court ruling about capital punishment. Two Family members were granted parole. Steve “Clem” Grogan, who had been found guilty of murdering stuntman Donald “Shorty” Shea, originally received a life sentence but was released in 1985. Leslie Van Houten, who was convicted of murdering Leno and Rosemary LaBianca, was released in 2023. All other parole petitions were denied.
Susan Atkins and Charles Manson both died in prison. Atkins—who had been convicted for her involvement in the murder of eight people, including Sharon Tate—died of brain cancer in 2009. Manson, who was found guilty of nine murders, died in 2017. Patricia Krenwinkel, Bobby Beausoleil, Charles “Tex” Watson, and Bruce Davis remain incarcerated. Linda Kasabian, who served as a lookout at the Tate murders, was granted immunity for testifying for the prosecution. She died in 2023.
In addition, former Manson Family member Lynette Alice “Squeaky” Fromme tried to assassinate Pres. Gerald Ford in 1975. She received a life sentence but was paroled in 2009.