Sharon Tate's only living relative, her sister Debra has said:
"Haunted by the brutality of her sister's death, Tate said she struggled to find compassion for the convicted killer.
"She showed no compassion. She told my sister as she slit her throat that she didn't (care) for her or her unborn baby," Tate said.
"If I could, I would say to her that I would pray for forgiveness on her soul at her moment of death when she has paid her debt to society. At that point, I'll show compassion and pray for her soul.""
Sharon Tate's murderer could be released from prison soon
Regarding the 'compassionate release':
"Under state law, terminally ill inmates can be considered for early release so they can die with and at the expense of loved ones. Dying inmates must meet certain criteria, Thornton said. They must have six months or less to live and must not be a threat to society, she said. They must also have family members willing and able to care for them."
"A diagnosis and evaluation of Atkins was conducted by prison officials, who concluded she met the requirements, Thornton said. If the Corrections Department recommends compassionate release, the Board of Parole would review the request and could recommend it to a sentencing court. The soonest the Board of Parole could review the matter is its next scheduled meeting July 15, said Thornton.
Once the request reaches the court, it would have 10 days to hold a hearing."
In another article in the Los Angeles Times:
40 years after brutal murders, Susan Atkins asks for mercy
"Debra Tate, the actress' sister and only surviving relative, strongly opposes the release of Atkins or any members of the Manson family.
"They are serial killers and they were convicted to die and they need to stay incarcerated," she said. "People don't just become cured from being sociopaths. There's no deprogramming, no pills, no drugs that make that go away."
Margaret DiMaria, the sister of Jay Sebring, a hairdresser who was killed at the Benedict Canyon home, agreed.
"It is most unfortunate that Ms. Atkins now suffers a terminal illness. However, in the eyes of the law and in memory of her victims, I fail to see how one thing correlates to the other," DiMaria and her son Anthony said in a statement Friday. "She repeatedly committed crimes requiring evil premeditation and executed them in a cavalier manner that afforded her victims no mercy. The sentence Ms. Atkins now serves should not be mitigated because fate has struck this blow."
But Atkins' petition has won some guarded support from unlikely quarters, including Vincent Bugliosi, the prosecutor who successfully sought the death penalty for Atkins.
"Under these unique circumstances, told she has only about six months to live . . . . I don't have any objection to her being released," he said. "She has paid substantially, though not completely, for her horrendous crimes. Paying completely would mean imposing the death penalty."
Atkins' death sentence was automatically commuted to a life term after the state Supreme Court overturned capital punishment in 1972. But cancer has become another kind of death sentence, Bugliosi said, noting that she has already had a leg amputated.
Bugliosi said his decision to support Atkins' release wasn't easy."