Dying Manson Follower Denied Release

California's state parole board on Tuesday denied a request for compassionate release to Charles Manson follower Susan Atkins, who stabbed actress Sharon Tate to death nearly 40 years ago and is dying of brain cancer.

The California Board of Parole released its unanimous decision hours after a 90-minute hearing, during which it heard impassioned pleas from both sides.

Susan Atkins' doctors and officials at the women's prison in Corona made the compassionate release request in March because of her deteriorating health. Atkins also has had her left leg amputated and is paralyzed on her right side, her husband and attorney, James Whitehouse, told the California Board of Parole Hearings.

He said doctors have given her three months to live.

"Why should we continue to incarcerate her at this point in life?" Whitehouse said. "She can't sit up in bed. ... She literally can't snap her fingers. She can put sentences together three or four times a day, but that's the extent of it."

Atkins, two other women and Manson were convicted of the 1969 cult killings of seven people, including pregnant actress Sharon Tate. They were sentenced to death, but their terms were commuted to life sentences when the U.S. Supreme Court temporarily ruled the death penalty unconstitutional.

Atkins, 60, has been imprisoned for 37 years, longer than any other female in state history.

The request for compassionate leave has generated a small storm of opposition, leading to a packed hearing before the state parole board. Atkins, in a hospital near the Southern California prison where she was housed, did not attend.

Los Angeles County prosecutor Patrick Sequeira related gruesome details of the murders to the parole board as some in the audience cried.

"Ms. Atkins is one of the most notorious mass murderers in United States history," Sequeira told the board. "Ms. Atkins personally stabbed Sharon Tate 16 times. She told witnesses she stabbed Ms. Tate until she stopped screaming."

In a letter opposing the release request, Tate's sister, Debra Tate, the last surviving member of her immediate family, called Atkins "a cold-blooded woman who to this day has not displayed any remorse."

Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley said in a letter to the parole board that the nature of Atkins' crimes should rule out any release. He noted that after Atkins stabbed Tate, she tasted her blood and used it to write the word "Pig" on the victim's door.

"To grant her 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.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Suzan Hubbard, the state's director of adult prisons, also recommended against Atkins' release.

"They have to stay in, have to serve their time," Schwarzenegger said Tuesday during an unrelated news conference. Even if Atkins is dying, the governor said, "Those kinds of crimes are just so unbelievable, that I am not for compassionate release in that case."

Atkins' brother, Steve Atkins, told the parole board Tuesday that he and his sister had been abused as children.

"After Susan got in with Manson, she was lost to me," he said. "Please let us be with Susan in private in her last days, to pray with her and give our last good-byes."

Atkins attorney Eric P. Lampel read a letter from one of the Los Angeles County prosecutors who tried the Manson case, Vincent Bugliosi, supporting Atkins' compassionate release.

Atkins, Manson and two other cult members, Patricia Krenwinkel and Leslie Van Houten, maintained their innocence throughout the trial. Once convicted, the women confessed to the killings during the penalty phase.

On the stand then, Atkins recounted her role in stabbing Tate, who pleaded for the life of her unborn baby.

"She kept begging and pleading and begging and pleading and I got sick of listening to it, so I stabbed her," Atkins said during her testimony.

She claimed she was on LSD at the time, but did not apologize until a parole hearing years later.

Atkins has been denied parole 12 times, corrections department spokesman Seth Unger said.

If the parole board decides Atkins should be released, her original sentencing court in Los Angeles County would make the final decision.

Corrections Department spokeswoman Terry Thornton said Atkins' medical treatment and paying for prison guards to watch over her has cost state taxpayers more than $1.4 million since March.

The corrections department no longer would pay for Atkins' medical care or be required to guard her around the clock if she is released to her husband.

Manson Krenwinkel and Van Houten remain in state prison.