If the panel decides to grant Atkins parole — called a “tentative suitability finding” — the decision is subject to a 120-day review process by the California Board of Parole Hearings, Thornton said. If it still stands, the matter then goes to the governor’s office. The governor’s options include allowing the decision to stand, actively approving it, modifying it or reversing it, according to the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s Web site.
However, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has previously opposed Atkins’ request for compassionate release — a request made by terminally ill patients wishing to be released before death. The Board of Parole Hearings unanimously denied that request in July 2008. It was also opposed by Debra Tate, Sharon Tate’s sister.
If parole is not granted, another hearing will be set in three, five, seven, 10 or 15 years, at the discretion of the panel, Thornton said.
Atkins has been described as a model prisoner who has accepted responsibility for her role in the slayings and now shuns Manson.
But Debra Tate told CNN in an e-mail in March she does not believe any Manson family member convicted of murder should ever be set free, saying the slayings were “so vicious, so inhumane, so depraved, that there is no turning back.”
“The ‘Manson Family’ murderers are sociopaths, and from that, they can never be rehabilitated,” Debra Tate said. “They should all stay right where they are — in prison — until they die. There will never be true justice for my sister Sharon and the other victims of the ‘Manson Family.’ Keeping the murderers in prison is the least we, as a society who values justice, can do.”
In a manuscript posted on her Web site, Atkins, who was known within the Manson family as Sadie Mae Glutz, wrote that “this is the past I have to live with, and I have to live with it every day.”
“Unlike the reader, or the people who seem to think Charles Manson was cool, I can’t think about it for an hour or so and then go on with my life. Just like the families and friends of the victims, this is with me every day. I have to wake up every day with this and no matter what I do for the rest of my life and no matter how much I give back to the community I will never be able to replace what my crime took away. And that’s not ‘neat,’ and that’s not ‘cool.’”
Atkins’ brain cancer was diagnosed in March 2008, Whitehouse wrote on his Web site. On May 15, doctors predicted she would live less than six months. But she passed that deadline, he wrote, and celebrated her 21st wedding anniversary on December 7
The presiding judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals went to trial on Monday, as misconduct allegaltions surface over the refusal to delay the execution of a current death row inmate.
Protesters could be seen outside of the courthouse Monday, holding signs criticizing the judge for what they believe was unjust. Judge Sharon Keller of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has been accused of not following the rules of conduct set forth by the Texas Courts. Her detractors say that she unlawfully refused to hear the plea for a stay of execution because her work day was over at 5:00, causing the defendant in question, Michael Wayne Richard, to be executed that night.
Actions taken on behalf of the courts could range anywhere from dismissing charges to Judge Sharon Keller’s complete removal from court.
An article released by the Associated Press recently tells us that the number of DUI cases seen in the courts around the nation is increasing. What do they attribute this statistic to?
Increasing numbers of women are being arrested for DUI and alcohol related charges, while the numbers for men are decreasing. They attribute the perceived increased freedoms associated with the modern liberation of being a woman. The article also cites the decrease in leniancy towards woman by police officers: yet another sign of the new age of gender neutrality.
“There’s the impression out there that drunk driving is strictly a male issue, and it is certainly not the case,” said Rae Tyson, spokesman for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. “There are a number of parts of the country where, in fact, the majority of impaired drivers involved in fatal crashes are female.”
The supreme court has just confirmed Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court. Sotomayor is the first hispanic to be graced with the honor of Supreme Court Justice.
They ended the vote 68-31 in favor of Sotomayor. Sotomayor’s past has come under fire recently, specifically for her own personal views. The democratic senate majority approved Sotomayor into the supreme court despite heavy republican opposition to her confirmation.
Republicans fear that as a Justice, Sotomayor will bring a liberal bias, clouding her judgement with her own personal views. Democrats counter saying that her record speaks for itself, and shows no evidence of bias towards her personal opinions.
Many senate republicans bring up her views on the second amendment, among other key republican issues, while others have come out openly in support of Sotomayor’s confirmation.
“”Judge Sotomayor’s decisions, while not always the decision I would render, are not outside the legal mainstream and do not indicate an obvious desire to legislate from the bench,” remarks Senator George Voinovich of Ohio.
