Wikipedia (excerpt): Susan Denise Atkins (May 7, 1948 –
September 24, 2009) was an American convicted serial killer who was a member of
Charles Manson's "Family". Manson's followers committed a series of
nine murders at four locations in California, over a period of five weeks in
the summer of 1969. Known within the Manson family as Sadie Mae Glutz or Sexy
Sadie, Atkins was convicted for her participation in eight of these killings,
including the most notorious, the Tate murders in 1969. She was sentenced to
death, which was subsequently commuted to life imprisonment when the California
Supreme Court invalidated all death sentences issued prior to 1972. Atkins was
later incarcerated until her death in 2009. At the time of her death, she was
California's longest-serving female inmate.
~ Tate/LaBianca trial
Manson, Krenwinkel, Van Houten, and Atkins went on trial on
June 15, 1970. Watson was later tried separately as he was at the time in Texas
fighting extradition. Kasabian was offered, and accepted, legal immunity. As
Kasabian had not played a direct part in any of the murders and never entered
either residence, and by several accounts had challenged Manson over the killings,
the offer of immunity to her was less bitterly contested, particularly by the
prosecutor, Vincent Bugliosi, who has commented that he was relieved the offer
was withdrawn from Atkins.
During the sentencing phase of the trial, Atkins testified
that she stabbed Tate. She stated that she had stabbed Tate because she was
"sick of listening to her, pleading and begging, begging and
pleading". Little credibility was given to Atkins' testimony in general,
as it frequently contradicted known facts. She claimed "(Manson) told us
that we were going to have to get on the stand and claim we had deliberately
and remorselessly, and with no direction from him at all, committed all the
murders ourselves".
Throughout the trial, Atkins and her co-defendants attempted
to disrupt proceedings and were noted for both their lack of remorse for their
victims and lack of concern for their own fate. They sang Manson-penned songs
while being led to the courtroom. All four defendants were sentenced to death
on March 29, 1971. Atkins was transferred to California's new women's death row
in April 1971.
~ Prison Marriages
“Atkins married twice while in prison. Her first marriage was to Donald Lee Laisure on September 2, 1981. Atkins became the mercurial Laisure's 35th wife, but the two divorced after he sought to marry yet again. She married a second time, in 1987, to a man fifteen years her junior, James W. Whitehouse, a graduate of Harvard Law School who represented Atkins at her 2000 and 2005 parole hearings. He maintained a website dedicated to her legal representation.” [Wikipedia]
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CHRONOLOGY
Sadie Mae Glutz or Sexy Sadie,
May 7, 1948 – Susan Denise Atkins born, San Gabriel,
California.
Oct. 7, 1968 – Atkins bore a son by Bruce White, Spahn Ranch
in the San Fernando Valley.
Jul. 25, 1969 – Gary Hinman murdered.
Aug. 8-9, 1969 – 5 murders: Sharon Tate, Steven
Parent, Jay Sebring, Wojciech Frykowski, Abigail Folger.
Aug. 10 – Leno and Rosemary LaBianca murdered.
Aug. 16, 1969 – Atkins arrested in police raid on Spahn's
Ranch for auto theft.
Aug. 1969 – Atkins tells two inmates that she had stabbed
Tate and tasted Tate's blood.
Manson, Krenwinkel, Van Houten, and Atkins went on trial on
June 15, 1970
Mar. 29, 1971 – sentenced to death.
Apr. 1970 – Atkins was convicted for the Hinman murder.
Apr. 23, 1971 – Atkins arrived on California's death row.
Sentenced commuted to life when death penalty was banned in California Supreme
Court's People v. Anderson.
Sep. 24, 2009 – dies. At the time of her death, she was
California's longest-serving female inmate.
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