Manson Family Member Susan Atkins Denied Compassionate Release

By Anastacia Mott Austin

Thirty-nine years after the world was stunned by the horrific murders of pregnant actress Sharon Tate and seven others in Los Angeles, emotions still ran high as murderer Susan Atkins asked for early release from prison.

Atkins requested compassionate release from the Chino, California prison where she has served her sentence since 1971. She, along with Manson Family leader Charles Manson and fellow killers Leslie Van Houten and Patricia Krenwinkel, were convicted of the murders of Tate and her friends, as well as Leo and Rosemary LaBianca, who were killed two days later. Charles "Tex" Watson was tried separately and also convicted of the murders.

The convicts were sentenced to death, but their sentences were commuted to life in prison when California temporarily abolished the death penalty in 1972.

Atkins has been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer, and has about six months to live. Her attorney told the court that she poses no threat to the community and wants only to be with her family as she dies. Even former prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi, who wrote the runaway bestseller "Helter Skelter" about the Manson family murders, said she should be given the release.

Bugliosi said that it was wrong to have the view that "…just because Susan Atkins showed no mercy to her victims, we therefore are duty-bound to follow her inhumanity and show no mercy to her."

But members of the victims’ families, some of whom have appeared at every parole hearing for the killers, insist that Atkins needs to stay in prison, telling reporters that their family members were not given a death that allowed for family closure.

It didn’t help Atkins to have those family members recall her behavior during the murder trials, where she giggled when prosecutors described the crimes and admitted that she told Sharon Tate, "I have no mercy for you" as Tate begged for the life of her unborn child. Atkins also said she stabbed Tate to make her quiet, saying "I was sick of hearing her pleading and begging, begging and pleading."

Atkins attorney says she is a changed woman, having become a born-again Christian in the 1970s. In addition, attorney Eric Lampel says that she cannot pose a threat to anyone at this point. Because of her illness, one leg has been amputated and the other is paralyzed.

But those opposed to her release say it isn’t just about whether she is a threat to the community.

Debra Tate, Sharon Tate’s sister, told the press, "She will be set free when judged by God. It's important that she die in incarceration."