ocnative

Susan Atkins (of Manson family fame) wants to be released and allowed to live in Orange County with her husband because she is terminally ill. According to the article, she has less than 6 months to live (what it fails to say is that she has cancer.)

A state board in Sacramento is scheduled to consider on Tuesday whether a terminally-ill Susan Atkins should be allowed to leave prison, and if so, whether she can settle in Orange County, where her husband resides.

District Attorney Tony Rackauckas sent a strongly-worded letter to the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation in June, urging that Atkins not be released.

Atkins, an associate of Charles Manson, was convicted of killing music teacher Garn Hinman and actress Sharon Tate, who was 8 months pregnant at the time. Both killings took place in 1969.

"Atkins showed no mercy as Sharon Tate begged for her and her unborn child's life to be spared," Rackauckas wrote. "Instead, Atkins wrote 'PIG' on Sharon's front door using Sharon's blood. … Atkins has already been shown mercy that she does not deserve."

Rackauckas further stated that it "would be a grave miscarriage of justice to burden the citizens of Orange County" if she is allowed to relocate here.

He noted that state law dictates parolees be returned to the county of their last residence, with few exceptions. She did not live in Orange County.

The state has not specified the nature of Atkins' illness, but officials have said the 59-year-old woman has less than six months to live.

Atkins has been denied parole 11 times, most recently in 2005.

She was housed in the California Institution for Women in Corona for 37 years, but has spent the last several months in a hospital in the Corona area.

State officials say that 10 of 60 so-called compassionate releases were granted last year.