LOS ANGELES — Leslie Van Houten, a member of Charles Manson’s infamous “family,” was released from prison on Tuesday after more than five decades of incarceration, officials said.

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Van Houten, 73, “was released to parole supervision,” the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said in a statement.

She was serving a life sentence for her role in the murders of grocer Leno LaBianca and Rosemary LaBianca in Los Angeles in 1969, according to the Los Angeles Times. Van Houten was convicted in 1971 of two counts of first-degree murder and one count of conspiracy to commit murder, The Washington Post reported.

She is the first person convicted in the Manson murder cases to be paroled, according to the newspaper.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom denied Van Houten’s parole multiple times but was overruled by a state appeals court earlier this year, the Times reported. On Friday, Newsom said he would not challenge the court’s decision to grant parole for Van Houten.

Van Houten was freed after her fifth parole recommendation. She had been rejected before by Newsom and his predecessor, Jerry Brown, the Post reported. Newsom had argued that Van Houten posed an “unreasonable danger to society if released from prison.”

The California Board of Parole Hearings found that Van Houten has “shown extraordinary rehabilitative efforts, insight, remorse, realistic parole plans, support from family and friends,” according to the newspaper.

Van Houten, a former homecoming queen from Monrovia, California, became involved with the Manson family during the 1960s, the Times reported.

According to prosecutors, Van Houten and another woman held down Rosemary LaBianca as Charles “Tex” Watson stabbed Leno LaBianca, according to the newspaper. After Watson stabbed Rosemary LaBianca, he handed Van Houten a knife. She admitted in court to stabbing the woman at least 14 more times.

Van Houten was tried three times for her role in the killings. She was originally convicted and sentenced to death, which was overturned on appeal because her lawyer disappeared before the verdict was announced, the Times reported.

The second trial ended with a hung jury, while the third trial led to her conviction, according to the newspaper.

At a 2002 parole board hearing, Van Houten said she was “deeply ashamed” of what she had done, the Times reported.

“I take very seriously not just the murders, but what made me make myself available to someone like Manson,” she said at the time.

Van Houten left the California Institution for Women in Corona early Tuesday and was driven to transitional housing, her attorney, Nancy Tetreault told The Associated Press.