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This undated file handout photo provided by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation shows Susan Atkins. Atkins was expected to succumb to brain cancer months ago, but the former Charles Manson follower imprisoned for killing actress Sharon Tate nearly four decades ago still clings to life. Now, a hearing that is perhaps her last chance at freedom has been abruptly put off until September 2009

No, Bugliosi does NOT oppose the parole – although he did support the death penalty against Atkins forty years ago.

HANSEN: Susan Atkins confessed to stabbing pregnant actress Sharon Tate. And there are many who actually count her unborn child as one of the victims.

Mr. BUGLIOSI: Right.

HANSEN: Isn’t her confession automatically an argument against clemency?

Mr. BUGLIOSI: Well, she told me that she stabbed Sharon Tate to death. But when I called her to the grand jury the very next day, Susan Atkins told me that she told Sharon Tate: Look, (Beep) I don’t have any mercy on you. You’re going to die.

She admitted that in front of the grand jury, but not to stabbing Sharon Tate. But that’s neither here nor there. Under the law of aiding and abetting and conspiracy, whether you participate in the stabbing or not, is immaterial. So Atkins is guilty of first degree murder, legally. It has some relevance on the degree of moral culpability that varies from person to person. And the person doing all the stabbing is more morally culpable than someone that did not.

But the main thing about Susan Atkins – and I have not opposed her being released, even though I sought the death penalty against her is that in addition to her already serving 40 years, which we cannot cavalierly dismiss, she’s literally on her death bed. One of her legs has been amputated. The other one is paralyzed. She doesn’t speak. She kind of mumbles. She has terminal brain cancer. And according to the L.A. Times, she’s only got a couple months to live.

So, I don’t even know if I’d put her in the same category of the others. If she were healthy and look like she’d be alive for many years, I would oppose her release. But right now, I don’t see any reason why. So I don’t think that’s a case we can put into the category whether the Manson family killer should be paroled.

All of them should’ve been executed way back in 1971, and I asked for the death penalty. But Susan Atkins is a little different story here, now after 40 years.

Here is one of the crime scene photos of Sharon Tate.

Remember Susan Atkins famously told a sobbing and begging Sharon Tate prior to her murder and mutilation, “Look bitch, I have no mercy for you.”

As Flap said before, Susan Atkins should remain incarcerated for the rest of her natural life. Atkins should have been executed forty years ago.

Look BITCH, the people of California have NO MERCY for you.

Previous:

Susan Atkins Parole Hearing Rescheduled to September 2, 2009

Susan Atkins May 29, 2009 Parole Hearing Postponed

Elderly Charles Manson Photo Released by California Correctional Authorities

Charles Manson Follower Susan Atkins Denied Compassionate Release

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Technorati Tags: Susan Atkins, Charles Manson

So says the California Department of Corrections.

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.

Those backing her release argued unsuccessfully that the cost of keeping Atkins in prison, which by now could be well over a million dollars, should have favored her release because it would save the state substantial amounts of money.

Others, including former Manson prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi, said it was a question of mercy and told The Times it was wrong to say “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 most were unwavering in their contention she should die in prison considering her crimes.

Tate, the wife of film director Roman Polanski, was 8 1/2 months pregnant when she and four others were killed at her hilltop home in Benedict Canyon. The actress, who was stabbed to death, had begged Atkins for her life.

“She asked me to let her baby live,” Atkins told parole officials in 1993. “I told her I didn’t have mercy for her.”

Atkins was housed at the California Institution for Women in Corona from April 1971 until March 2008, when she was transferred to a local hospital for treatment.

And, here is why, Susan Atkins will likely die in prison:

Remember Susan Atkins famously told a sobbing and begging Sharon Tate prior to her murder and mutilation, “Look bitch, I have no mercy for you.”

Charles Manson followers Leslie Van Houton, Susan Atkins and Patricia Krenwinkel