State Parole Board to hear Atkins' case for compassionate release
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10:00 PM PDT on Monday, July 7, 2008
The case for releasing Susan Atkins, the terminally ill follower of Charles Manson who killed actress Sharon Tate almost 40 years ago, will be heard by the state Parole Board in Sacramento on July 15.
The board will allow the public to address the board before the closed session begins.
No matter what the Parole Board of Hearings decides, the case will go to the original sentencing court in Los Angeles County, where a judge's decision would be final.
Officials at the California Institution for Women near Corona had recommended that Atkins, 60, an inmate, who is being treated at a hospital, be released because she meets the criteria of the state's compassionate release program. She has fewer than six months to live, no longer poses a threat and has a family to support her.
Atkins has brain cancer. Her attorney last month said doctors have given her two to three months to live.
The director of the state's adult prisons recommended that Atkins not be freed, but would not disclose her reasons because of confidentiality.
The Inland prison officials' bid to free Atkins has fueled a public outcry.
Tate, who was pregnant, and four others were murdered on Aug. 9, 1969, at the actress' home in the Benedict Canyon area of Los Angeles.
During a 1969 summer killing spree, the members of the Charles Manson family cult killed eight people. Atkins was convicted for her role and has been imprisoned for 37 years. She has been denied parole 12 times.
7 comments:
This is for Brian:P:P .
Great post Col thank you
LOL ! Right on Deadwood.
I was going to say the same thing Deadwood, lol, but I actually am really digging the pictures.
Is that the original door at the "new" house at Cielo ?
Or is that the original door at another house somewhere ?
Or is that even the original door ?
It's been close to a month of that 2-3 months for Susan Atkins hasn't it ?
I don't know anything about brain cancer other than the obvious and I really don't have the "want to" to look it up, but, at this stage of the cancer is she still able to speak or understand ?
Or does she not even know who she is or who anyone is or what anything is anymore ?
The reason I am wondering is because if she were released would she even know it ?
Of course the family(her real family)would all rejoice, but, I don't know if she would even realize she was out.
Thanks for the update Col !
Thank you Brian ,you also write great questions etc (not just saying that either)
Thanks Col!
Hiya Brian and Deadwood!
=)
Hi there Heaven ! Good to see ya again !
And Thank you Deadwood. :)
Brian, she might not be that far gone. Friend of mine passed away from a glioblastoma - truly awful way to go. There was supposedly very little pain, but her cognitive functions did deteriorate. A couple months before she died she was out and about doing things but the medications made her extremely dizzy, she needed a lot of help walking. The steroids made her face puff up. And she would frequently struggle to find the right words to speak. Sometimes she would mix up words without even realizing it. For instance she would ask me how my kids were. Well she knew I didn't have any kids, she was referring to my nieces and nephews, she just couldnt find the words to ask that correctly. she was forgetful and sort of off in her own world sometimes. That's the horror of this kind of tumor. It can take away your mind before your body. But it also really depends on exactly where in the brain the tumor is located.
Hi Brian and Agnostic,
A close friend of mine also died from a glioma, but without much time for the horror and the side effects. He actually expressed relief when doctors first said they suspected a brain tumor because as he put it "I thought I was going crazy." This was before they discovered it was the deadliest of brain tumors with the worst possible outcome.
He suspected something was up, but his symptoms were vague...a little clumsiness, some memory problems that he attributed to stress etc. He was diagnosed in July after open and close surgery and died in August, three weeks later. Slipped into a coma two weeks after the surgery. It was stunning and shocking...the diagnosis and the speed in which it killed him. The cell doubling time of some gliomas can be very fast, so by the time the tumor causes symptoms, it doubles its already huge size in a very short period of time.
It was shocking at the time but in retrospect, his quick death was almost merciful...he was spared from enduring the horror and pain. He was cognitive and functioning until the day before the coma.
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