Posted on 06/05/2009 10:21:50 PM PDT by Steelfish
Manson follower Susan Atkins, with six months to live, granted parole hearing
June 5, 2009
Last year, doctors diagnosed Susan Atkins with terminal cancer, prompting a failed bid by the convicted murderer and Charles Manson follower to receive a "compassionate release" from state prison.
But Atkins, who gained infamy for her role in the 1969 slayings of pregnant actress Sharon Tate and others in a bloody two-night rampage in Los Angeles, may get one last chance to convince state parole officials she should no longer be kept behind bars.
Officials with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said Thursday they have scheduled a Sept. 2 parole hearing for Atkins in Los Angeles.
Atkins has served 38 years in prison, longer than any other female prisoner, officials said. Before last year's attempt, she was most recently considered for, and denied, parole in 2000.
In early 2008 Atkins was diagnosed with brain cancer. With one leg amputated and the other paralyzed, Atkins has only six months to live, doctors say. Atkins petitioned for so-called compassionate release, igniting a debate about when mercy is appropriate.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimesblogs.latimes.com ...
Like Doctor Death Jack Kavorkian got out early because of a so-called terminal illness, and still lives today, outside of prison for years now. Susan Atkins just might be pulling a Kevorkian here.
FTA - “Atkins petitioned for so-called compassionate release” My suggestion to the Parole Board is to show Atkins the same level of compassion she gave to her victims. She should die a prolonged and intensely painful death in prison.
> There isn’t any real way to think Atkins is still dangerous and they keep throwing really dangerous people out of prisons to make room for more dangerous people. That’s aside from the 65% of the people in prisons for “war on drugs(TM)” infractions....
But that’s really beside the point, isn’t it? She was incarcerated for life not because she was dangerous but because she was a murderess and she needed to go to gaol permanently for lifelong punishment.
Now she’s getting that lifelong punishment — good. Proof that the System works.
A more just verdict would have seen her hoist aloft by a noose around her neck and suspended therefrom until she was dead. So she’s already had the benefit of the Court’s clemency.
As to the War on Drugs — I am in favor of that. Most of the people incarcerated for the War on Drugs truly belong in gaol, so with 65% of the prison population attributable to the War on Drugs it too is proof positive that the System works.
If keeping Susan Atkins in gaol until she croaks means that there isn’t enough room for other dangerous people to be incarcerated, the real answer is to either speed up the executions or build more gaols, or both.
What strikes me when reading this article is that it still not too late to execute Ms. Atkins.
I can only say that NO ONE really KNOWS they have “six months to live”. All she knows that she is alive today and that she has this that or the other medical condition.
She might not make it until tomorrow or she might be alive five years from now.
So the whole premise of the article, and by extension, the hearing, is flawed.
She broke Caesar’s law. She is entitled to Caesar’s compassion. And I don’t think Caesar, even in the squishy soft province of California, will offer any more compassion than has already been meted out.
Wow - quite chilling when you look at it that way.
Doesn’t excuse what he did but I wouldn’t want to walk a mile in his shoes.
Before or after the murders?
A year ago they said she had 6 months.
This was after, I believe in the early eighties. Strange, eh?
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