Politics | 06/19/2008 11:45 am

Manson Murderess Begs for Mercy

By The Staff at wowOwow.com

Susan Atkins in 1969 © AP

In August 1969 she slit the throat of a pregnant woman begging for mercy. Today, she’s hoping she has better luck when asking for the same from the government.

A former member of the Manson family, Susan Atkins, 60, has requested a "compassionate release" from prison on the grounds that she is terminally ill and has less than six months to live, Department of Corrections spokeswoman Terry Thornton told wowOwow.

The Golden State’s longest-serving female inmate, Atkins was convicted in 1969 for the murders of actress Sharon Tate (who was eight months pregnant) and four others. Perhaps the most gripping detail from the case file was that, before leaving the crime scene, Atkins wrote "PIG" in blood on Tate’s front door.

Atkins received the death sentence, which later was commuted to life in prison at the California Institution for Women in Corona, CA, where she remained until she was hospitalized in March. She’s listed in serious condition and, while Thornton declined to comment on her illness, it’s been reported that she has been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer.

According to Thornton, the prison did an evaluation of Atkins’s release request and found that she met the two necessary criteria — she is terminally ill with an incurable condition that would cause death in six months AND she has a supportive family with the means to care of her – to be recommended for review by the corrections department. If the corrections department makes a positive recommendation, the decision then goes to the sentencing court, which will do one of three things: deny the request, recall the original sentence and re-sentence to a lower term (which could result in a full discharge) or recall the original sentence and place her under parole supervision.

The Los Angeles Times’s op-ed says that Atkins should not be granted the release. What are your thoughts on this?

Click here to vote: Are you in favor of the death penalty in the United States?

Read more about: Charles Manson, Law, News, Susan Atkins, Terry Thornton

251 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

Frannie Em, Thanks for your kind words. I am so happy for you to have your son back. Three times; he’s sure done his part. Hopefully, he’s back for good.

By Gianna Bracco on 06/26/2008 2:06 pm

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I disagree with her release even though she is at the end of her days. There may be nothing to be gained by keeping her in prison at this point, but one cannot forget that she showed absolutely no mercy to her victims. It is shocking to me that she would even have the audacity to ask for it for herself.

By Bright Blessings on 06/19/2008 8:25 pm

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I too remember listening to the horrid newscast in 1969, I was blessed (1967) having a child at full term and both of us live, normally.(My son is now and has been for many years living in USA, married and 2 children) Sharon Tate’s family are the survivor’s here, they have had to live everyday with the loss of their beautiful daughter and never see her be a mother or their grandchild of whom they would never see grow up. As far as I am concerned no tax payers CANADA OR USA should pay to keep a convicted murderer in jail, they need to receive the death penalty. PERIOD END OF STORY!! Marlene F- Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada

By MARLENE FENTON on 06/19/2008 8:50 pm

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Dear Marlene. Kudos to you! another intelligent lady.

By HA BIBI on 06/24/2008 2:55 pm

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I’m a strong opponent of the death penalty but I believe “life in prison” should mean Life In Prison full stop. Her relatives can still visit her even if she is in a prison hospital. Why should she be let out just because she’s dying? She can die in prison just as well as she can die in the home of a relative. I won’t even bitch about the cost of keeping her there. I think she is a very deserving cause for the prison system. It’s where she belongs, unlike many other incarcerated unfortunates who should be in rehab rather than the clink. California spends so much of my taxes on building and maintaining prisons for minimal offenders (I’m very much opposed to the 3-strikes law for non-violent offenses), yet here we are with a person who deserves to stay in prison and the powers-that-be are talking about letting her out. This is a crazy world!

By Emma Pathey on 06/19/2008 11:48 pm

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I was against the death penalty until I saw the crime scene photos of this grisly murder. Now I’m all for it in cases like this and I’m only sorry they weren’t all put to death as sentenced. They’ve wasted taxpayer $$ and been an extreme emotional burden to the victim’s families. Unfortunately, since the California Supreme Court overturned their death penalties, the families will have to go through this again and again with parole hearings. And now that the death penalty is reinstated it doesn’t apply to them.

By Get Sporty on 06/21/2008 6:32 am

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If California laws give lifers lenacy under certain circumstances, and she is eligible under these circumstances, then she should be released. That is the way the system works. If Joe Blow gets to spend his last six months with his family after commiting a murder, she should be allowed the same right. Just because she murdered someone famous does not make her crime and more or less than Joe Blow’s. If her name had not been so publicized we would not even know that she was being released and this question would never have been asked. If it is justice - it is justice for all.

By Maggi D on 06/20/2008 2:22 am

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Maggi—She didn’t kill one person in a fit of passion, it was premeditated, dispassionate mass murder of 7, with a near-term pregnant victim begging for her babies life and her coldly slitting her throat while mocking her, etc etc etc….I feel often as if people do not weigh distinctions here. Things do not all have he same weight, nor are parole’s (which this is—goes to the parole board) handled that cut and dry.

By Get Sporty on 06/21/2008 3:07 am

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“If California laws give lifers lenacy under certain circumstances, and she is eligible under these circumstances, then she should be released. That is the way the system works.” The LAW IS SHE GETS TO APPLY. Most are denied. She was denied. Your entire post is totally wrong because it is based on your false belief that it is some kind of automatic procedure, and then Mugsy quoted it and Frank followed her lead. It would be nice if people checked their info before making totally wrong assumptions. And it would be nice if they took on the views of the victims families. The law is she gets top apply. Last year 60 did and 10 were approved. She was denied for the same reason she’s been denied parole 17 times. Because she committed some of the most grisly murders on three separate occasions and on totally innocent people and then bragged it was more fun each time you do it. You people feel noble when your position is heartless for the families because you are totally uninformed about what the process is, and assuming it is automatic. “If her name had not been so publicized we would not even know that she was being released and this question would never have been asked.” She doesn’t get to be released just because she’s sick. She was denied a release do to the gravity of her grisly mass murders. It sin’t that she killed someone famous its that she mass murdered totally innocent people on 3 separate occassions and bragged it was more fun each time, like having sex, And that she stabbed to death a 8/12 month pregnant woman begging for her life. “If it is justice - it is justice for all.” that’s right. She’s a mass murderer. Here’s a 411 for you. Mass murderers don’t get out of prison because they ASK. If she didn’t want to die in prison then she shouldn’t have killed 8 people and an baby. What is so difficult to understand about that? She can now try to see if the Parole Board or the courts will hear her request… By Maggi D on 06/20/2008 2:22 am

By Get Sporty on 06/23/2008 6:45 am

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It’s not about mercy for this woman it’s about justice for her 7 victims. She had a life in prison. She was able to marry her attorney, read, make friends, have experiences, she even has her own website. Sharon Tate and her baby had nothing. The victims were murdered in cold blood and mocked while they begged. Atkins was old enough to know better (a six year old knows better), it was all premeditated. There were infinite decision points in the planning and in the long ride up in Benedict Canyon, in bursting into that mansion, in her earlier murder of music teacher Gary Hinman, in the murder of the elderly Los Feliz couple, Leo and Rosemary LaBianca, the following night. Atkins and other members of Manson’s cult were convicted of killing six people, and Atkins was also convicted of the earlier killing of Gary Hinman. “She asked me to let her baby live,” Atkins told parole officials in 1993. “I told her I didn’t have mercy for her.” After stabbing and killing Tate, Atkins tasted her blood and used it to write “PIG” on the front door. During her trial, showed no remorse and taunted the court by saying, “You’d best lock your doors and watch your own kids.” Someone here said it isn’t up to anyone else including the Tate family. That is not the case. When the recommendation goes to the Board of Parole, that hearing can include public comment, including the relatives, which have weighed heavily in the denial of Atkins’ requests for parole 11 previous times. Relatives of Tate and other victims oppose Atkins’s release, or that of any other members of the Manson cult. Here’s what Sharon Tate’s sister Debra said: “I don’t want to seem like a heartless creature, but in all my years, I never considered this could happen. She showed no compassion. She told my sister as she slit her throat that she didn’t (care) for her or her unborn baby. ‘They are serial killers and they were convicted to die and they need to stay incarcerated.’ Vincent Bugliosi, the prosecutor said she “has paid substantially, though not completely, for her horrendous crimes. Paying completely would mean imposing the death penalty. I don’t have an objection to her being released.” That’s different from what someone wrote her that he agreed with the release; he “didn’t object” is what he said that’s different than saying he agrees. There are people serving life sentences under the “Three-Strike” law..who did not commit capital crimes….and their third convictions were things: stealing a CD for a child’s birthday present, stealing a pack of mini-donuts from a convenience store. They are in prison for life. When Jim McDougal was convicted of fraud by Ken Star he died of a heart attack in federal prison because he was denied access to his heart medication, and placed in solitary confinement. The US is 5% of the world’s population and 25% of the world’s prisoners incarcerated in our jails—by far more than any other country. Over 2 million of our citizens. There are thousands of prisoners that die in US jails and prisons each year that did not commit capital crimes, many of them ill too. She is in a hospital facility, not in a prison. Let her stay there and her family visit her. I am sorry for her that she has cancer, and that she was so stupid. The victims’ families do not deserve to be put through the agonizing media circus that will no doubt attend this in LA. No one here is going to guilt trip me by saying the mercy is a reflection of us, not for the mass murderer of 7 completely innocent people. That’s absolute BS. The families and friends of the victims were sentenced to live with the memory of their loved ones brutal ending for the rest of their lives. 7 lives were snuffed out for absolutely NO reason whatsoever and in the most heinous manner. The families do not want any of the perpetrators released and that should be honored.

By Get Sporty on 06/20/2008 3:39 am

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RE: By Fluffy In the City on 06/20/2008 3:39 am (((((APPLAUSE APPLAUSE)))))) I am a religious person. In the bible there are many references to what we consider capital punishment. Many well known biblical scholars agree on the interpretations of these passages. A couple of examples: Exodus, Chapter 21, Verse 12: He that smiteth a man, so that he die, shall be surely put to death. In Rom. 13:4, the apostle Paul said, “It is not without purpose that the ruler carries the sword. He is God’s servant, to inflict his avenging wrath upon the wrongdoer” I refuse to be put on a guilt trip on this. I am not cruel or brutal or merciless for my beliefs. I am following beliefs set forth in the Bible. She evaded the death sentence when it was commuted to life. God let her live and that should have satisfied her. Now it is time for her to die. She is well taken care of where she is. Her family can visit her. Unfortunately, Sharon Tate’s family cannot visit her ( or her baby) where she is. I wrote before about the murderer who lived in my subdivision. He was a rapist and a murderer. He tied a young woman to the bumper and killed her. He strangled her baby and slit it’s throat. I was involved in court as I had to prove his gun ownership with my father’s gun shop records. This murderer swore, as he was led from the courtroom, to kill everyone involved with his conviction if he was ever released. I believed him.

By doll lady on 06/20/2008 5:00 am

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Doll Lady The only misinterpretation you have here is that “God let her live” God did not let her live. Spineless judical systems allowed for a death penalty sentence to be commuted. God wanted her butt up there along time ago so her real trial could have begun.

By HA BIBI on 06/24/2008 3:07 pm

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Roman Polanskii’s mother and sister were murdered before his eyes by the Nazis. His and Sharon Tate’s baby would have been 37 right now. Sharon Tate’s one sister, Mother (who is nearly solely responsible for victim’s rights laws as the result of the butchering of her beautiful daughter with whom she was extremely close), Father are all dead. Their happy lives were destroyed on August 9, 1969. ’ The surviving sister Debra said as hard as it was on her mother and father hearing the news, Roman Polanski was beyond devasated. He made that wonderful movie of a few years ago, The Pianist, in part due to his own experiences in Nazi occupied Poland and having his own family butchered in front of his eyes. He made a successful life and again it happened to his completely innocent wife and baby and good friends. Abigail Folger for one was a truly beautiful, educated, creative, humane person and social activist despite her wealth. Here’s Sharon Tate’s sister describing how she told Roman and his response. And both he and Sharon’s director had wanted her to stay in Europe where they lived in London and have the baby in a Swiss clinic and not return to LA but she wanted to be with her parents and sisters who were so excited about becoming aunts. 37 years stolen from this lovely woman and her baby for no reason whatsoever, by a woman who’d murdered an innocent musican days before, and an innocent couple the next day, and then laughed about it in jail, thrilled about it, and then mocking the victim’s families in court. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_rACVNt2mc The outstanding film “The Pianist” that Roman Polanski made, based on a true story, and which also reflected his experience in Nazi occupied: http://www.szpilman.net/ Poland. A tribute to Sharon Tate that would have had 37 joyous years with her ‘baby,’ her family and in her career by this Aug 9: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zL4OP46eLI

By Get Sporty on 06/21/2008 1:47 pm

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RE: By vicki lee on 06/20/2008 4:08 am To vicki lee…..who the heck are you? I see this same post on a lot of threads. Sweetie, you just think you are a hottie. (The real hotties are us woman over age 40 who know we are hot and don’t need to flaunt it!) I think you are acting childish and a little imbalanced to come to this site and post some sex related bull crap over and over again. Go away until you grow up or become a real hottie like us.

By doll lady on 06/20/2008 5:33 am

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No. She must accept the consequences of her actions. Sound cold? So was she those many years ago. Her life was spared and her family has been allowed to visit. She should stay in prison.

By CJ McDonald on 06/20/2008 9:07 am