Justice: The Long, Terrible Journey of Sadie Mae Glutz

Once, in a different place and lifetime, she met a man whom some described as holy. He, in fact, had the look and intensity of a biblical prophet; eventually, he came to live in the desert where, with the aid of his followers, he planned to effect a monumental social change that would reverberate throughout the world for years to come. Some people likened him to Jesus Christ, others to Hitler. When he welcomed her into his fold, he promised her unconditional love and a new beginning. He re-christened her Sadie Mae Glutz and, for a brief while, she seemed to have found the love that had eluded her for most of her life. She would do anything for this man who seemed to be a miracle in the flesh. Later, when asked to do the unthinkable, she complied without hesitation. When she was finally tracked down, along with her leader and her fellow disciples, she sang and giggled and bragged about the prominent role she played in what was, arguably, the crime of the century. By this time, the world knew her by her real name, the name of the person she'd once struggled to put behind her. By this time, the whole world knew her as Susan Denise Atkins, and she would forever be linked with evil and madness and the calculated butchery instigated by her mentor. His name was Charles Manson, and he taught his followers that this butchery would be the foundation for an apocalypse that would be known as Helter Skelter.
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From a hospital on the grounds of a California women's prison, Susan Denise Atkins recently petitioned the courts for compassionate release, revealing that she is dying of a brain tumor and not expected to live beyond the next six months. She is asking that she be released in order to spend her last days in the care of the people who love her. Ironically, it was similar claims of love, from a very different sort of family, that helped land Susan Atkins where she is today.
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By now, thirty-nine years later, most people are familiar with the facts of the case; they have been preserved in the indelible amber of infamy. According to testimony at the ensuing trials, on the night of Friday, August 9, 1969, Charles Manson, savage messiah of a group of youthful misfits and runaways, dispatched Susan "Sadie" Atkins, Charles "Tex" Watson, Patricia "Katie" Krenwinkel, and Linda Kasabian to an address high in the Hollywood Hills. Once there, they were to use the knives and gun that had been provided, and kill everyone in the house in as gruesome a manner as possible. Before the quartet of young killers left on their mission, Manson instructed the girls to "leave something witchy" behind after the slaughter was complete.
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Sharon Tate was a beautiful, 26 year old movie actress, whose star was on the rise. Married to noted Polish film director, Roman Polanski, Sharon had recently achieved a measure of fame with a starring role in the film version of Jacqueline Susann's bestseller, "Valley of the Dolls". Eight months pregnant with her first child, the actress was happily anticipating the birth, as she and her husband set about creating a home in a rambling rental house overlooking L.A.'s Benedict Canyon.

In August of 1969, while Roman was in Europe, Sharon remained at home, foregoing travel at that late stage of her pregnancy. Staying with her in the Cielo Drive house were houseguests Wojiech Frykowski, Roman's friend from Poland, and his girlfriend, the coffee heiress, Abigail Folger. On the night of August 9, the noted Hollywood hairstylist, Jay Sebring, stopped by. Once Sharon's suitor, Sebring had remained on friendly terms with her, and on this night he joined Sharon, Frykowski, and Folger for dinner at a popular restaurant. Another arrival that night was Steven Parent, a local boy who had driven in from the eastern suburbs to visit the property's caretaker, who resided in a detached cottage several hundred feet away from the main house. Parent had hoped to sell a clock radio to the young man.

There's not much point in recounting the ghastly details of what followed. The events of that night have been reported on ad nauseum via bestsellers, newspapers, magazines, television, movies, and the web. Suffice it to say, that Atkins, Watkins, Krenwinkel, and Kasabian entered the property at sometime around midnight, with Watkins shooting a departing Steven Parent as he sat in his car, pleading for his life. While Kasabian served outside as lookout, the other three entered the residence and proceeded to bludgeon, stab, and shoot the occupants in an orgy of violence that must have seemed endless to the terrified victims. Wojiech Frykowski, alone, had somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 stab wounds, in addition to being shot and beaten. Sharon, the last to die, lay on her living room floor, tied by a long rope to a bloodied, lifeless Jay Sebring. As she cried and begged to be allowed to live and have her baby, Susan Atkins stood over her, knife poised in hand, saying, "Look bitch, I don't have any mercy for you. You're going to die and you'd better be ready." When the killers were leaving, it was Atkins who dipped her hand in Sharon's blood and wrote the word "PIG" on the front door, leaving the "witchy" something that Manson had requested.

The Tate house was neither the first nor the last murder scene at which Susan Atkins found herself in attendance. The following night, the same crew of assassins, along with Leslie Van Houten and Steve Grogan, dropped in on grocer, Leno LaBianca, and his wife, Rosemary, in their home near Griffith Park. Their bodies were found the next night, in much the same condition as the Tate victims. The words "Political Piggy" and "Healter Skelter" were scribbled in blood inside the house.

Soon enough, the connection was made to a murder that had happened a few weeks earlier, towards the end of July. Atkins freely admitted that she and Manson follower, Bobby Beausoleil, went to the home of a music teacher named Gary Hinman. Manson briefly joined them to aid in the torture of Hinman, who was terrorized for more than a day before Beausoleil finally killed him.

Upon her arrest, Atkins, commenting on the murder of Sharon Tate, said, "You have to have a lot of love in your heart to do this for somebody."
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Before her second coming as Sadie Mae Glutz, she was born Susan Denise Atkins in Los Angeles County, only a year after the Paris Peace Treaties officially ended the second world war. By all accounts, Susan Atkins was a shy and withdrawn child, raised by alcoholic parents who moved the family to San Jose when Susan was still young. As she got older, Susan, in spite of her introverted nature, joined her school's glee club; when her mother was in the last stages of terminal cancer, Susan arranged for the club to sing Christmas Carols outside her window. It is useless to speculate what went on at home during Susan's formative years but, following her mother's death, the alcoholism of Susan's father seemed to grow steadily worse; drifting from job to job, he found it increasingly difficult to stay employed. At age 18, Susan left home, dropping out of high school and heading for San Francisco, where she supported herself with gigs as a topless dancer.

At some point, Susan was introduced to Anton LaVey, founder of the American branch of the Church of Satan. The depth of their involvement is speculative, but, through him, she somehow managed to cross paths with Charles Manson. Manson and his "family" were about to embark on a road trip to southern California, and Susan gladly got on the bus--literally, it seems, as the group owned a school bus that they had painted black.

It was during her involvement with the family that she became pregnant and gave birth to a son, whom Manson named Zezozose Zadfrack Glutz. Susan was apparently uncertain of the baby's paternity, since it was commonplace for "family" members to engage in group sex. She was also rumored to have chewed off the umbilical cord following her baby's birth. According to various "family" members, including Susan, herself, sex and drugs constituted a large part of the group's nomadic existence. With a coterie of friends that included at least one member of the Hell's Angels motorcycle gang, as well as one of the original Beach Boys, Manson came to exert no small amount of influence among a growing and diverse contingency. He had dreams of becoming a rock star, and was making the contacts to help him put these dreams into place. However, his expanding ego was soon put in check, as the music career that he was hoping to launch fell flat when show business honchos were unimpressed with his efforts. By now, Manson was already preaching about the coming race war, and of how he and the "family" would be instrumental in its inception by killing rich, white "piggies" and making it look like crimes committed by blacks. Manson and his followers would hide out in the desert until the race war was over, at which time Manson would emerge as the new leader of the survivors. No matter what it may sound like now, Manson apparently believed it would work, and if his followers had doubts, they didn't dare voice them in his presence.

The rejection by the music industry executives only exacerbated Manson's anger and paranoia, which had reached dangerous levels by the summer of 1969. Add to this the fact that some of his closest associates were doing time in jail, including Bobby Beausoleil, who had recently been arrested for the murder of Gary Hinman. It was time to ignite Helter Skelter.
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The press dubbed them "The Manson Girls", and Sadie, Katie, and Leslie were only too happy to preen and pose and indulge in outrageous antics for the media, as they were taken from their jail cells to the L.A. County Courthouse. When the girls weren't giggling, crying, chanting or otherwise misbehaving for the spectators, they shaved their heads and carved X's into their brows. They declared their mutual love for Charlie, and demanded that he be set free. At the time, Sadie seemed to be especially agressive in her attempts to shock and dismay, and displayed an almost naive lack of concern for her own plight.

The lead prosecutor on what became known as the Tate/LaBianca Murders was a young, ambitious attorney named Vincent Bugliosi. Very early on, Bugliosi expressed regret that Sadie was going to be their star witness and would, thus, receive special treatment--immunity from the death penalty if convicted--in exchange for her testimony. Sadie obviously relished her role in the bizarre murders, and spared no detail when describing the gruesome events; she was all over the news, along with Manson and her co-defendents, and for the first time in her life, Susan Atkins a.k.a. Sadie Mae Glutz felt like she was somebody. She had arrived. As Bugliosi prepared to take the cases to trial, he was struck by Sadie's callous, insipid behavior. In his bestseller, "Helter Skelter", he referred to Sadie as "ever the animal".

Much to Bugliosi's relief, Sadie repudiated her testimony, and Linda Kasabian, the young woman who'd acted as lookout during the Tate killings--the only person who didn't actually commit a murder--agreed to testify, thus allowing Sadie Mae Glutz to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Kasabian's testimony was damning to the defendants.
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When it was all said and done, the trial of the Manson Gang (excluding Tex Watson, who was tried separately) lasted nine months and wound up with all the defendants being convicted. During the sentencing phase, they remained unrepentant, even attempting to blame Linda Kasabian for masterminding the murders, to no avail. Sadie, Katie, Leslie, and Charles Manson were sentenced to death. Except for a certain period in which defense attorney's would file appeals, the entire sorry spectacle appeared to be pretty much over.

As it happened, that was only the beginning of a slow, sad freefall for just about everyone involved.

In 1972, the California Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty constituted cruel and unusual punishment, and thus invalidated all death sentences imposed prior to that time in the State of California.

Like many others, the Manson Gang's sentences were commuted to life in prison. Meaning that they could eventually be eligible for parole. Meaning that, every few years, each of them would be presented to the parole board in a special hearing which would determine if they were still a threat to society, if the debt for their unspeakable crimes had, indeed, been paid. Meaning that the families of the victims would periodically make the journey to testify before the parole board and give reasons why the murderers of their loved ones should remain in prison. This process, of course, keeps the past churning, dredging up nightmares and ensuring that old wounds remain open, never healing; it demands a level of pain that must be endured by the diligent participants, still waiting for an ending that will never satisfy everyone.
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During her many years as a prisoner of the State of California, Susan Atkins has found the wherewithal to cope with life behind bars, possibly because of the enormous changes she has, allegedly, undergone. For starters, she found Jesus. But, they all say that, don't they? The perpetrators of the most heinous crimes seem to find religion in the unlikeliest places, during times when it may seem like a miracle is all that will save them. In the case of Susan Atkins, there's no harm in giving her the benefit of a doubt. Maybe she did find Jesus in a prison cell, and maybe He did wash the blood from her hands with his own. Who's to argue? She once thought that Charlie Manson was Jesus, so at least she got past that delusion. She's also reported to have saved the lives of a couple of fellow inmates during her incarceration. While the details of these deeds weren't readily available for this blog post, it says something that the woman learned to appreciate the value of human life. After her earlier performances, it actually says a lot. Like maybe Susan Atkins finally grew up and realized the magnitude of her actions; maybe she believed that she could somehow absolve herself through acts of kindness and contrition. Reading about the exemplary life she's led in prison--over a period of more than 35 years--does give one pause. Did she, the giggling assassin who once claimed to have tasted the blood of Sharon Tate, really change? And, if she did, was it because her conscience could no longer deal with the scope and nature of her crimes? Or was it because she knew that the joke was over and that she was no longer laughing? Did she think that by keeping up a well-rehearsed performance, she would eventually be released from her long-standing bondage? Was she truly, finally repentant? Does it even matter at this point?

Susan Atkins is dying. She has an inoperable brain tumor that, according to her doctors, will kill her before the year is out. They say that she's unable to speak more than a few sentences a day and can't care for herself. She had one leg amputated a few years ago, for reasons that aren't entirely clear, and now her other leg is paralyzed, as is one entire side of her body. In other words, she probably isn't going to flee the country. She's almost certainly not a menace to society anymore.

But, the question is, menace or not, has Susan Atkins paid her debt to society? Has justice been served? It would seem, given the state of her health, that justice has been long, slow, and painful. Some might say that she is getting exactly what she deserves. Some might call it karma, or the retribution of a vengeful God in whom Atkins claimed to find comfort. It's probably just the luck of the draw we mortals face when we come into this world; some of us will develop diseases that will take our lives, some won't. But if this is justice, it's much more cruel and unusual than the gas chamber in use by the state back in 1972.

Just last week, on July 15, the California Board of Parole Hearings denied Susan Atkins' request for compassionate release. They have, reportedly, the final word on the matter. Barring unforeseen circumstances, Susan Denise Atkins will now die as a prisoner of the State of California.
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Some time back, she was interviewed on one of the evening news programs--"60 Minutes" or "Nightline", or something similar--and it was astonishing to see how different Atkins' appearance was from the persona who dominated news footage during her days as one of the Manson Girls. She hadn't been seen much since her trial, and in the present, all prim and attractive and well-groomed, she looked like a woman who could have been equally at home as a Sunday School teacher, or whispering over margaritas with a lover, on a remote beach in Mexico. Sadie Mae Glutz had vanished into the annals of criminal textbooks; Susan Atkins, the shy, quiet glee club singer smiled sadly and apologized for unforgivable crimes. Of course, she still had all her limbs then, and wasn't sick with the cancer. Not yet.

It was sad, really, to look at her--her appearance and manner suggested someone you might meet in any supermarket, someone you wouldn't mind having as a friend. If you didn't know the truth about her past, you'd never guess what she'd been up to during that terrible summer of 1969. But, the fact is, we do know. And now that her life's long journey is finally winding down, she has the audacity to ask for mercy, for compassionate release. And the State of California--i.e., society--has denied it. It seems that we can't allow her the final comfort she requests, because we can't be sure, can we, whether justice is still being served, whether showing mercy and compassion will give the appearance of some sort of impropriety? If appearances are an issue, wouldn't it look better if we were to show mercy to one who--in another lifetime, as Sadie Mae Glutz--chose to show none? At this point, the gesture of keeping her in prison seems purely symbolic, anyway. Who gains from her continued confinement? The truth of the matter is that there are no winners here, there never have been. The co-defendants--Watson, Krenwinkel, van Houten, and Manson--are all still imprisoned; the cycle of parole hearings and denials will continue long after Susan Atkins is gone. While her life's actions have had an enormous effect on any number of other lives, her death will change nothing. Loved ones of both the victims and the condemned will continue their trips to the prisons, recounting their anguish, repeating arguments, until finally, they are all dead and buried, the guilty and the innocent, alike. In the quest for justice, there is mercy for no one.