Manson Follower Who Tried to Kill Ford Leaving Prison

Squeaky Fromme is going free. The Manson follower who attempted to assassinate President Ford in 1975 is scheduled to be released from prison on Aug. 16, ABC News reports. Fromme, real name Lynette, pointed a pistol at Ford from about 2 feet away before an agent wrestled it away. Now 60, Fromme actually finished her term for the assassination attempt last year—this additional time is for a brief escape in 1987.

Her release will come just days after the 40th anniversary of the Manson group's grisly murder of Sharon Tate and nine others. Fromme wasn't implicated in those deaths, but she said she wanted to kill Ford in part to draw attention to Manson's quest for a new trial. After her arrest, authorities found that her gun had bullets in its magazine but none in the firing chamber, so it would not have gone off had she fired it. (More Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme stories.)