Ex-Manson follower says she's political prisoner

Houston Chronicle ^ | May 31, 2003 | Associated Press

[Houmatt]

RIVERSIDE, Calif. -- Former Charles Manson disciple and convicted murderer Susan Atkins is suing Gov. Gray Davis, contending his policy opposing parole for nearly all murderers has made her a political prisoner.

Parole board members and prison officials also are named in the federal civil rights lawsuit, which accuses them of ignoring the Constitution and parole rules to keep Atkins behind bars.

"Over the course of her incarceration, Ms. Atkins has been transformed into a political prisoner," said the suit, filed by attorney Eric P. Lampel of Irvine. He said psychiatrists call her a model prisoner who is not a threat to society.

Atkins, 55, who confessed at the sensational 1970-71 Manson trial that she fatally stabbed pregnant actress Sharon Tate, has since recanted that confession, saying she was present but did not kill Tate.

She was convicted along with Manson, Charles "Tex" Watson, Leslie Van Houten and Patricia Krenwinkle, and all were sentenced to death for their roles in a series of murders in the summer of 1969. The sentences were later commuted to life when the Supreme Court struck down the death penalty in the 1970s. All five are still behind bars.

Atkins was denied parole for the 10th time in 2000, and relatives of those killed have adamantly opposed her release.

Since Davis took office in 1999, the governor has freed only two murderers, both women who were found to have suffered from battered women's syndrome when they committed the crimes. He has vetoed more than 150 other releases recommended by parole boards.

A 1988 voter-approved constitutional amendment gives California's governor carte blanche to overturn parole board-approved releases.

Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to consider restricting Davis' powers to block the parole of convicted murderers. The case was appealed by Robert Rosenkrantz, who was convicted of killing a teenage friend in 1985 after the friend revealed Rosenkrantz's homosexuality. Rosenkrantz sued Davis after the governor blocked his parole board-approved release.

Atkins' lawsuit, filed in April, seeks to advance her next parole hearing, now scheduled for 2004, to this year and asks for $1 million in punitive damages. Lampel has said all damages would be donated to crime victims.

The California attorney general's office last week filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, contending it is premature because Atkins has not exhausted other remedies.

U.S. District Judge Robert Timlin set a June 30 hearing.

[goldstategop]

BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

[The Hon. Galahad Threepwood]

If I were the judge, I'd declare her lawsuit frivolous and order her to pay the state's legal expenses.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Susan was in my first Mass Murderer Trading Cards collection...

[goldstategop]

Mvmmmm.... we could produce card decks of all The Infamous & Notorious in California prisons.

[Focault's Pendulum]

One of the reasons I enjoy reading these articles, is because it brings back memories of my youth.

Unfortunately, Sharon Tate, 26 at the time of her death, has had the promise of memories forever taken away.

[Tamzee]

Poor Susan Atkins.... life really isn't fair, is it?

And life was really, REALLY unfair to poor Sharon Tate, too... or rather, YOU were.

[goldstategop]

As much as I loathe Gray Davis... his parole policy is one area I back him up on to the hilt. I hope Susan Atkins is kept locked up til the day she dies.

[veronica]

OH PLEASE. Susan Atkins was the most bloodthirsty and sadistic of the bunch. If not for the disgraceful Judge Rose Bird, Atkins would long ago have paid her debt to society.

[katz]

I don't live anywhere near Kalafornia but the Manson clan needs to go away. Their parol hearings are interesting to watch on court TV. That is all I can say about them.

[gunnedah]

There are no doubts in my mind these people should have been executed. BUT! This is what will happen when you do away with the death penalty they will go to screaming and hollering cruel and unusual punishment having to stay in prison that long. But! Being honest with myself, she is a political prisoner of the Liberal SOBs in Hollywood because of who was killed. There have been many people parolled for cold blooded murder of police officers after not half as much time.The diverse liberals in Hollywood keep her prisoner to send criminals a message not to mess with them and the politicians help them.
This is the same crowd that believes in diversity and human rights. Yet they wont allow people to stroll on the beaches in front of their homes.

[Let's Roll]

So now murdering a woman and her unborn child is no longer murder but a political crime?

[goldstategop]

Blame it on the idiotic U.S Supreme Court that threw out the death penalty in 1972.

[goldstategop]

She can declare herself transgendered, lesbian, and having an African American grandmother and before you know it, there'll be a FREE ATKINS movement in the works. With all the usual suspects of course helping her. Her guilt won't matter; what's important is kicking down a racist, patriarchial, and homophobic system.

[nothingnew]

Hey susan, go carve a swastika on yer head and shut up.

FMCDH

[goldstategop]

Of course their beaches are private property. The rest of society is fair game. But you already got that figured out didn't ya? ;-)

[b4its2late]

They are obviously allowed WAY TOO MUCH free time in the slammer.....

[goldstategop]

Roll in the sack with Charlie while you're at it.

[goldstategop]

Murderers can be such a creative bunch. Fellow felon Clinton would be proud.

[Jaidyn]

If memory serves me correctly, didn't they get the death penalty but Ca. stopped the penalty, then reinstated it? They mocked the court and the families every day they were in court, laughing at the system. They don't need to get another stab (pun intended) at freedom.