Dying Tate killer denied release

A follower of Charles Manson who stabbed pregnant actress Sharon Tate to death nearly 40 years ago but is dying of brain cancer in a California prison has been denied compassionate release.

The California Board of Parole issued its unanimous decision on the release of Susan Atkins hours after a 90-minute hearing, during which it heard impassioned pleas from both sides.

"Obviously, it was too hot of a potato for them to handle," said one of Atkins' attorneys, Eric P Lampel. "Of course we're disappointed. There's no basis for denying this."

Mr Lampel filed a motion on July 10 with Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge David Wesley asking for his client's release no matter what the parole board recommended. No hearing date has been set, Mr Lampel said after the parole board session.

"We're going to be able to make the case in court. We'll take it to the next step," he said.

Atkins' doctors and officials at the women's prison in Corona made the request in March because of her deteriorating health.

She also has had her left leg amputated and is paralysed on her right side, her husband, James Whitehouse, told the California Board of Parole Hearings.

Mr Whitehouse, also acting as one of Atkins' attorneys, had argued that his wife was so debilitated that she could not even sit up in bed. He told the parole board there was no longer a reason to keep her incarcerated.

"She literally can't snap her fingers," he said. "She can put sentences together three or four times a day, but that's the extent of it."

He said doctors have given her three months to live. Atkins, in a hospital near the Southern California prison where she was housed for nearly 40 years, did not attend Wednesday's hearing.