The Manson Family Murders

The California Parole Board has denied Charles Manson family member Susan Atkins release from state prison on Tuesday. Atkins had been seeking release on "compassionate grounds" due to terminal brain cancer. Doctors have given her about six months to live.

Susan Atkins was convicted of first degree murder for the killings of 5 people in August of 1969. She is the longest serving female California inmate.

It is my belief that the parole board in this case made the right decision. Susan Atkins showed absolutely no compassion for Sharon Tate ( who was 8 ½ months pregnant) when she stabbed Tate 16 times and even when Tate begged for her baby's life, Atkins said in a 1993 parole hearing "I told her I had no mercy on her".

Atkins is paralyzed on one side of her body and came barely speak. She will never be able to walk again because she is an amputee. Given the fact she has so little time to live, I don't see what anyone would gain by releasing her. She was, after all, originally sentenced to death. Had her sentenced not been commuted to life with the possibility of parole, she would have been dead years ago.

Her crimes were as gruesome and heinous as they come and yet she has the nerve to ask for compassion. I made an half hearted argument that these crimes happened almost 40 years ago and that should be enough time to serve but then there are the relatives of the victims who have to re-live this massacre every time one of the Manson Family comes up for parole. Sharon Tate's sister has said that it is important for these people to die in incarceration. If that's what the family wants then we should respect their wishes.

This is just the beginning of many pleas for mercy and release of the Manson Family. We will be hearing about the surviving members for years to come and hopefully the outcome will be the same. We hope that they will remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives.