Having studied the Manson murders extensively, you have to wonder honestly why she was in prision at all. It was proven that A the woman was brainwashed using a combination of drugs and other techniques and B she was not in her right mind when the murders were committed. In this day and age that is enough of a reason to put a person in a mental hospital, not a prision.
Also further reasearch into the case suggests that she was told to confess to the murders by other members of the Manson cult so that the least ammount of people got into trouble for it. No one REALLY knows exactly what happened on the day the murders were committed. No person involved told the same story. Even according to the prosicuting attourney, the evidence used to convict Atkins was circumstantial at best, and that they never really did trust the person who said she confessed to the murder. Some people even suggesst that the person she "confessed" to in jail was only trying to get out of jail herself and fabricated parts of the story. Also, Atkins "confession" in the courtroom was made AFTER she was found guilty. I doubt anything she could have said in the punishment phase of her trial would have made any difference in the punishment she recieved. Who knows what she was told to say, or why she said what she did.
When this case was tried, people wanted answers and a scapegoat. A famous person (especially a pregnant famous person) being murdered is a huge deal and someone had to be blamed for it and quickly otherwise the whole thing would turn into a circus.
I'm not saying Atkins did anything right by any means, but it is unfair to have a "let her rot in prision" attitude especially when there are things about the case that remain unkown.
The Manson murder case is one of the most complecated murder cases in US history. I don't think there is anything about it that is clear cut or black and white.