Manson killer with brain cancer seeks early release

LOS ANGELES — On a night in 1969, Susan Atkins and other followers of Charles Manson burst into a Benedict Canyon mansion and proceeded to taunt, torture and kill the five people inside.

Actress Sharon Tate, 8 ½ months' pregnant with the son of director Roman Polanski, begged one of the knife-wielding killers to spare her life. The attacker was Susan Atkins, and her response was cold.

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

Almost 40 years later, it's Atkins asking for mercy.

Diagnosed with terminal brain cancer and confined to state prison on a life sentence, Atkins, 59, is asking to be released from state prison on "compassionate" grounds.

After stabbing and killing Tate on Aug. 9., 1969, Atkins tasted the actress's blood and used it to write "PIG" on the front door. During the more than nine-month trial, Atkins showed no remorse and utter devotion to Manson. Debra Tate, the actress's sister and only surviving relative, said neither Atkins nor the other Manson killers deserve to be released.

"They are serial killers, and ... they need to stay incarcerated," she said. "People don't just become cured from being sociopaths."

Atkins has been in state prison for 37 years, longer than any other woman currently incarcerated. Her request for a compassionate release has been approved by the California Institution for Women in Corona, where she had been housed from April 23, 1971, to March 18 this year, when she was admitted to a hospital.

Officials determined her request should be considered because of her illness. The state parole board is expected take up the case in the coming months. If the board approves her release, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge would have to sign off on it.