Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, Manson Follower And Would-Be Ford Assassin, To Be Released From Prison (PHOTOS)

HOUSTON -- The Charles Manson follower convicted of attempting to assassinate President Gerald Ford is set to be released from a federal prison in Texas later this month after serving more than 30 years behind bars.

Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme was a 26-year-old disciple of the cult murderer Manson when she aimed a semiautomatic .45- caliber pistol at Ford in September 1975 in Sacramento, Calif. Secret Service agents grabbed her and Ford was unhurt.

Fromme, now 60, is scheduled to be released on parole from the Federal Medical Center Carswell in Fort Worth on Aug. 16, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons and the court-appointed attorney who represented her at trial.

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A 1970 photo of Lynette Fromme, known as Squeaky, a member of the Manson family, the group involved in the Sharon Tate murder. Fromme is shown here at a pre-trial hearing in Los Angeles.

SEE PHOTOS OF THE MANSON FAMILY'S RANCHES HERE

Fromme, who got a life term, became the first person sentenced under a special federal law covering assaults on U.S. presidents, a statute enacted after the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

Ford was walking to the California State Capitol from his hotel when Fromme pushed through the crowd, drew the pistol from a holster on her thigh and pointed it at the president as he shook hands with well-wishers. She was restrained by Secret Service agents who wrested the gun away from her and led the president to safety.

Less than two weeks later, another would-be assassin, Sara Jane Moore, fired at Ford in San Francisco but missed.

It was unclear why Fromme was at Carswell, a facility that specializes in providing medical and mental health services to female offenders. A spokeswoman for the bureau of prisons did not immediately return a phone call Wednesday seeking comment.

"I knew some day she would be released," said John Virga, the Sacramento attorney who handled her trial.

Fromme served time in at least two other facilities before Carswell.

She escaped from a female prison in Alderson, W.Va., on Dec. 23, 1987, and was recaptured about two miles away on Christmas Day after a massive search. She was sentenced to an additional 15 months in prison for the escape.

Fromme had said she escaped from prison to be closer to Manson.

Manson is serving a life term in San Quentin in California for the 1969 murders of actress Sharon Tate and eight others. Fromme, one of his "family" of followers, was not implicated in those attacks.

Comments

[dancucich]

"It was NOT a secret service agent who stopped her but A GAY San Franciscan who saved Ford's life. He was just there watching the president and was standing next to Squeeky and stopped the assination. It always is conveniently left out that he was a Gay Citizen."


==was his sexual preferences really germane to the story? That's not why he did what he did. ===

[Shani]

Manson is at Corcoran, not San Quentin. I know because I used to live in the town of Corcoran, CA. Emphasis on "used to". Maybe she'll move to Corcoran, they do have some lovely & cheap housing since no one wants to live there! Oh and Sirhan Sirhan is there too!

[JLRoberson]

It's OK, she can't aim.

[Thaigold]

Now hear this! Google: warren jeffs

[KarateKid]

I think if I was in her shoes, I'd want to stay in prison. That facility is for women who are mentally unstable, and what future does she have on the outside? Would anyone hire her? What's she going to do, live in shelters or on the street? I don't think she'll be a threat to anyone's safety except herself.

[SharonaMonk]

Can they show an updated photo so that people can avoid her? :p

[livesimply]

Really. It is amusing that they don't show a picture of a 60 some-year-old woman. what age-group/sex could be more irrelevant ;)

[Sandmanj]

Oh, great. If she hasn't changed, she'll try to assassinate Obama because she imagines it will start Manson's race war.

Squeaky should have been given the death sentence and it should have been carried out a long time ago.

[CessnaDriver]

The "Family" still lives on in the annals of the Los Angeles County Public Health Department for the extremely virulent strain of the clap that they spread around.

[Mort]

Venereal disease is nothing to clap about!

[tfred]

I hate these reports of the Squeekster's capture as she attempted to shoot Ford. It was NOT a secret service agent who stopped her but A GAY San Franciscan who saved Ford's life. He was just there watching the president and was standing next to Squeeky and stopped the assination. It always is conveniently left out that he was a Gay Citizen.

[leftcoastliberal]

And the Republican Party's thank you has been three decades of bigotry, discrimination, and hatred for gay people.

[liamd1]

What diff does it make whether or not he was gay?

[Tramaker]

Tfred - you're mixed up on this. It was Sarah Jane Moore whose gun was knocked away by the gay man (in San Francisco), not Squeaky Fromme. The two assasination attempts were a couple of weeks apart in September of 1975. It was a secret service man who grabbed the gun from Fromme.

[FDRbyGodDemocrat]

You wonder why she was in a mental health facility? Uh, maybe because she's SQUEAKY FREAKIN' FROMME???

[CessnaDriver]

Oh, man, that post made me laugh out loud. Thank you!

[ywcachieve]

I know she didn't ki// the president, but she tried. So that alone should be life without parole.

[Mort]

Don't worry about Squeaky. She can't sneak up on anyone. You can hear her coming a mile away.

[CessnaDriver]

She's little and she's steathy. She only squeaks when you squeeze her thigh.

[Mort]

Reminds me of a chew toy my dog has. ;)

[ywcachieve]

I do not know why on earth they are letting this woman out. The woman tried to kill a US president for petes sake. What the he// are they thinking, letting her out.

[Emilio Rodriguez]

I recall she didn't cock the shutter of the '45 and was unnable to shoot,

[faith]

Releasing ANY of the Charles MANSON gang is unconscionable. There is no excuse, nor is there justice. These people continue to pronounce and admit their terrible deeds. Americans are agreeing to slap teenagers into federal penitentiaries for stealing CD's, or smoking pot under the three strikes law, yet we allow these heinous individuals to be released from prison after torturing and murdering pregnant women? What on earth is the matter with americans? Where are our values?

[republiscum]

Fox snooze will hire her. Now she can join the republican hate machine.

[SteveWoodward]

Naw, they'd only hire her if she'd shot at a Democrat.