Sharon Tate's killer to get another hearing

From Carey Bodenheimer
CNN
LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) - The woman who brutally stabbed actress Sharon Tate and her unborn baby to death will be considered for release from prison a month after the 40th anniversary of killings.

Susan Atkins, 61, has been denied parole in 17 previous hearings, but the former "Manson Family" member now is terminally ill with brain cancer and is paralyzed.

Charles Manson used his hypnotic powers to direct Atkins and other "family" members to kill seven people, including the pregnant Tate, in a two-night rampage that terrorized the city of Los Angeles in August 1969.

Atkins - who was initially sentenced to death along with Manson and three others - will have her 18th parole hearing on September 2, according to a spokesman with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

In July of last year, Atkins - California's longest-serving female inmate - was denied a compassionate release in a unanimous decision by the California Board of Parole Hearings.