News & Politics - Release Denied for Dying Charles Manson Follower Susan Atkins

**LaraCroft01** · 07-16-2008, 05:12 PM

This is the same women who murdered an eight 1/2 months pregnant Sharon Tate after Tate begged for her life and the life of her unborn child. This is the same woman who wrote "PIG" with Tate's blood on the front door of the mansion Tate shared with her husband Roman Polanski, after she and others killed five people at the mansion on August 8, 1969. She also participated in the murders of two other people that occurred soon after the murders at the Polanski/Tate mansion.

From here

Quote:

Release Denied for Dying Charles Manson Follower Susan Atkins
Last Edited: Wednesday, 16 Jul 2008, 7:03 AM PDT
Created: Tuesday, 15 Jul 2008, 4:34 PM PDT

Los Angeles --

The state parole board today rejected a "compassionate release" plea by former Charles Manson devotee and convicted murderer Susan Atkins, who has terminal brain cancer and had hoped to live out her final days with her husband in Orange County.

The unanimous decision by the 11-member Board of Parole Hearings was welcome news to Los Angeles County's top prosecutor, who had sent the chairman a letter saying that releasing Atkins would be an "affront" to Californians and to the families of those murdered by the gang nearly 40 years ago.

Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas also opposed Atkins' release. He wrote a letter to the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation recommending denial of her request that she be allowed to live with her husband.

Rackauckas said there was no statutory authority to release Atkins to Orange County, and that statutes call for parolees to be returned to the county that was their last legal residence prior to incarceration.

"It would be a grave miscarriage of justice to burden the citizens of Orange County by paroling her to Orange County, where she can enjoy the comforts of her husband, home, and mercy she did not show Sharon Tate, her unborn baby, and seven others," Rackauckas wrote.

But former Deputy District Attorney Vincent Bugliosi, who prosecuted Atkins and the rest of the Manson family, disagreed.

He told NBC4 in a telephone interview today that Atkins -- whose doctors say she has two to three months to live -- has "already served close to four decades -- which is substantially paying for her crimes. The only way she could completely pay for her crimes is the imposition of the death penalty."

Atkins, now 60, was too ill to attend the hearing, which was held in Sacramento. Family members on hand to represent her told the board that Atkins' model behavior behind bars shows she deserves to die at home.

"She has paid her debt to society," said her teenage niece, Alysia Atkins. "She has served about 40 years of her life locked up, and it's sad to see that she may pass there."

Pam Turner, niece of murdered actress Sharon Tate, was overcome as she addressed the board.

"I cried so hard that night my eyes wouldn't open the next day," she recalled. "I was a child, but I was so sick with grief that I wished I too could die."

Atkins was convicted of eight murders stemming from the drug-fueled crime rampage carried out by Manson's followers.

Their victims included the 26-year-old Tate -- who was 8 1/2 months pregnant with husband Roman Polanski's child -- and four others slaughtered in the couple's rented Benedict Canyon home on Aug. 9, 1969. The film director was out of the country at the time.

Tate and coffee heiress Abigail Folger, Voytek Frykowski, Jay Sebring and Steven Parent were slain "to instill fear into the establishment," Atkins later told a grand jury.

A day later, Manson's group struck again -- stabbing to death grocery store chain owner Leno LaBianca and his wife, Rosemary, in their Los Feliz home.

The murderers left bloody messages at both crime scenes. In the Cielo Drive home where Tate was stabbed 16 times and hanged, Atkins tasted the actress's blood and used it to scrawl "PIG" on the front door, Cooley said.

He also wrote that Atkins "personally stabbed Sharon Tate to death after the victim begged for her life and the life of her unborn child."

Atkins also was convicted of killing Topanga musician Gary Hinman, as was Manson follower Robert Beausoleil.

"To grant (Atkins') release would be an affront to the people of this state, the California criminal justice system and the next of kin of many murder victims," Cooley wrote. "Her horrific crimes alone warrant a denial of her request."

Manson -- who was not present for the killings but was convicted of orchestrating the bloodbaths -- Atkins and three other followers were sent to death row. But their sentences were commuted to life in prison after the U.S. Supreme Court established new requirements for capital cases.

Cooley argued that Atkins, who has said she was under the influence of LSD and the charismatic Manson at the time of the murders, deserves to spend the remainder of her life behind bars because she "has failed to demonstrate genuine remorse and lacks insight and understanding of the gravity of her crimes."

"Her psychiatric evaluations over the years have shown that she continues to have serious problems with authority and a consistent pattern of minimizing her criminal conduct," Cooley wrote. "She has suffered a number of serious rule violations (behind bars) and multiple adverse counseling reports."

He also contended there "is no reason to believe that inmate Atkins cannot receive appropriate, dignified and compassionate medical care within the state prison system."

Atkins' request for "compassionate release' consideration was made in May, after a doctor determined she had less than six months to live, according to Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokeswoman Terry Thornton.

Atkins has been in state prison 37 years, longer than any other woman in California, according to Thornton. She is serving a life sentence with the possibility of parole.

Her request for release was approved by the California Institution for Women in Corona, where she was housed from April 1971 until March, when she was transferred to a local hospital for treatment.

Officials at the Corona facility concluded that Atkins should be considered for release because of her failing health and because she no longer posed a risk to others.

The parole board's decision means the state will continue to provide medical care and guard Atkins until she dies. More than $1.5 million in taxpayer dollars have been spent on her care since March, according to published reports.

I agree with DA Tony Rackauckas: "It would be a grave miscarriage of justice to burden the citizens of Orange County by paroling her to Orange County, where she can enjoy the comforts of her husband, home, and mercy she did not show Sharon Tate, her unborn baby, and seven others." She doesn't deserve to die at home with comforts she never let Sharon Tate and others have. She was allowed to reach 60. Tate was 26. I think she should die in prison.

_Jmarit_ · 07-16-2008, 06:33 PM

The most disturbing part isn't even the fact that she even thought for a second she had a right to be granted "life" again.

Quote:

"She has paid her debt to society," said her teenage niece, Alysia Atkins. "She has served about 40 years of her life locked up, and it's sad to see that she may pass there."

^ It's that. I don't know, it may make me sound not passionate or whatever but if my aunt had done something like that... my reaction would not be anything of sympathy.

She didn't pay her debt to society. There is no such way to pay a debt for what she did. It's one the most unforgivable acts.

**vc318** · 07-16-2008, 06:39 PM

Man, this lady has some explaining to do when her time comes at the pearly white gates.

Wilpen · 07-16-2008, 06:48 PM

I might have an unpopular opinion but I don't entirely agree with the decision or at the very least I'm indifferent. Maybe it's my bleeding heart liberal mind, but I don't think the decision was this clear cut. First of all the woman is paralyzed on one side of her body, she can barely talk, she only has one leg, she's totally disabled and actively dying. If she were to be released is she going to head to the beach running around having glorious fun? Absolutely not.

I get that the crimes she committed are unspeakable. Horrific. So completely mind blowingly sickening but I also believe she isn't the same person she once was during her brainwashed days, LSD induced state, being entirely controlled by Manson. I believe she changed after getting out of his control. Having said that, I don't think that meant she deserved parole throughout the years because her crimes were unthinkable. Leslie Van Houten, for example, is the only one I consider having a good chance for parole if you study her case.

But the fact of the matter is Atkins is actively dying and I'm sure she's never going back to prison again anyway. She'll stay in the hospital so I really don't see the point to this. I guess it's the principle involved but I am utterly appalled at some of the comments being made all over the net, harsh, cruel comments by people that in my mind, are just as sick and twisted as the Manson followers who committed the murders as they sound just as insane to me.

I don't know... another thing is Atkins family like her brother, for example, in my mind is just as much of a victim because he lost his sister in many ways, maybe not physically, but he lost a solid relationship with her throughout all of these years. I feel for him, too, just as I feel for the family of Sharon Tate and the others.

There's many victims involved I guess is what I want to say,

And I'm just not sure if the correct decision was made since she's dying and probably isn't making it back to prison anyway. Heck the lead prosecutor years ago who wrote the book, Helter Skelter, even said he didn't have a problem with her release.

_Jmarit_ · 07-16-2008, 06:57 PM

But should she honestly have the right to die in the comfort of her home, surrounded by family when she took two people's lives even while one begged for her not to? And in the most brutal way.

Imo it's enough that she'll probably pass quietly in her sleep while the woman she murdered died in fear and pain and probably mostly sorrow knowing her child didn't have a chance.

I just can't feel sympathy for her. Though I guess I can understand why others do.

Wilpen · 07-16-2008, 07:28 PM

Yeah I certainly see that side of it, too. There's so many factors involved here. I'm not at all shocked by the ruling. I also know if she weren't dying I would be watching her future parole hearings saying she doesn't deserve to see the light of day. It's just such a delicate situation though given everything involved. Even in a financial way, we the taxpayers are probably paying more for her care than we would if they were to release her for her remaining days, although I'm not entirely sure on that.

**sunnykerr** · 07-16-2008, 08:29 PM

Maybe it's not about sympathy for her, though. She is dying. That she will inevitably have a far more peaceful death than the people she murdered or helped murder cannot be avoided.

I'm with Wilpen on this one. I'm not surprised by the ruling either. If she were in full health, I'd be entirely satisfied with it myself. You just don't commit those horrible crimes and get to live our your life enjoying your freedom to the fullest of its extent.

But, at this point, she seems to be emprisoned in her dying body anyway. Maybe I'm a liberal bleeding heart, but I can have some sympathy for that. I'm not saying it washes away her sins. But my having sympathy because she's dying in such a slow and steady way has nothing to do with that. It's to do with me.

Beyond that, though, I have sympathy for her family. She's dying. They're her family. Of course, this has got to be tremendously painful for them.

Does it mean she should be released to their custody? I don't know. I believe in the justice system and they've made their decision. I'm not inclined to argue with it.

But I do agree that the prison she's in now has nothing to do with the gruesome crimes she committed.

sm_love_dc · 07-17-2008, 12:55 AM

I think that she should stay in prison. She apparently cannot even talk anymore so prison hospital would be as good as any other. I do think that her brother can be there, not for her but for himself. He should not be deined his right to she her, he did not kill anyone.

Those murders were some of the worst that has happed, and the killers where put behind bars for life. And now her life is ending, that is her last earthly payment to the victims families. She should stay.

iheartjustinchambers · 07-17-2008, 08:51 AM

Why should we have sympathy for her?? Others may, but I certainly do not. Susan Atkins showed no mercy when she bludgeoned a very pregnant Sharon Tate to death. She deserves to die a very slow and painful death.

**sunnykerr** · 07-17-2008, 07:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by iheartjustinchambers (View Post)

She deserves to die a very slow and painful death.

And that's exactly what's happening to her.

Which is why I have sympathy for her. I don't know, maybe it's the way that I am different from the type of person who would commit the kind of acts she did. I dunno. All I know is that, to me, the slow and agonizing death of any one person is something that arouses sympathy in me.

I'm not inclined to circumvent the judicial system over that sympathy, mind you. If she were in good health, I wouldn't be advocating for her release either. But, her circumstances being what they are, I still feel sympathy for her.

Mostly, though, I feel sympathy for her family, who committed no crime and who, for whatever reason that is theirs alone to know, want to spend the last days of this woman's life in her company. I can't imagine that prison rules make that easy. I'm not saying they should either.

I'm just saying that I feel sympathy.

_Jmarit_ · 07-17-2008, 08:54 PM

I agree with the person who says that her brother should be able to see her, since it wasn't his fault. I just don't think she should have the right to get out. In my opinion she should never have the right to see the light of day again, eat a decent meal with family (though i don't know if she really would be able to), or feel free at all.

cls21c · 07-18-2008, 12:59 PM

I read the book and saw the crime scene photos. She should have thought about what would happen to her when she started taking drugs and then brutally murdered two people. I say she stays in prison.

**sunnykerr** · 07-19-2008, 09:09 PM

I think that if there was a way to be rational about not entering a cult and not being brainwashed, then there would be no cults anywhere and no one would know abotu brainwashing.

I think Susan Atkins deserved the sentence she got. Her crimes certainly warranted it. And, regardless of the circumstances that led her to commit them, she has to take responsibility for her actions.

I'm also not sure that I would have fared any better against Charles Manson when I was 19 and had my life been what it was for her at that point in time.

Leneoth · 07-31-2008, 01:50 PM

She should NEVER get realeased.
Did she show Sharon (and her unborn baby) and the others any mercy? NO!
She deserves to rot in jail!

Quote:

Atkins told the grand jury that she stabbed Frykowski in the legs and that she held Tate down while Watson stabbed her. She also testified that Tate had pleaded for her life and that of her unborn child, to which Atkins replied, "Woman, I have no mercy for you."

Sick!
They all should have gotten the death penalty IMO!

AnnieHall · 07-31-2008, 03:29 PM

The basic premise of justice and a legal system is that you're responsible for your actions. She commited a serious crime and therefore must be in prison for it.