Original Post Date: 06/13/2008
Updated Post Date: 06/20/2008
LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) — California’s director of adult prisons is recommending against “compassionate release” for a terminally ill former Manson family member, a spokeswoman said.
Susan Atkins is led from a Los Angeles grand jury room after her indictment in the 1969 “Manson murders.”
Suzan Hubbard, director of the Division of Adult Institutions, decided that Susan Atkins’ request should not be sent to the sentencing court for consideration, said Terry Thornton, spokeswoman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Hubbard’s recommendation is advisory and will not necessarily prevent Atkins’ release.
The court — not the department or the state Board of Parole Hearings — has the final say on whether Atkins should be released, Thornton said. “They’re the only ones legally who can recall the sentence,” she added.
Atkins, 60, was convicted in the 1969 slayings of actress Sharon Tate and four others. She had been incarcerated at the California Institution for Women in Corona, California, but has been hospitalized since mid-March. Continue Reading.
