California’s Governor Gavin Newsom has denied parole for Sirhan Sirhan. Convicted for assassinating Senator Bobbie Kennedy in 1968, Sirhan had finally been granted parole this past summer, yet his fate lay in the hands of Newsom. The Kennedy family has been split on whether or not Sirhan should be free.
“California’s Board of Parole Hearings recently found that Sirhan is suitable for parole. I disagree. After carefully reviewing the case, including records in the California State Archives, I have determined that Sirhan has not developed the accountability and insight required to support his safe release into the community. I must reverse Sirhan’s parole grant.” Gavin Newsom
In an Op-Ed piece to the Los Angeles Times, Newsom cited Sirhan’s shifting narrative as well as his refusal to take responsibility for the crime as clear reasons it was not safe to release him. Sirhan admitted to killing Kennedy for years but then began to claim he couldn’t remember it.
Newsom stated that each claim of Sirhan’s innocence has been investigated and disproved.
“Perhaps it is easier for some to accept debunked false claims than confront the difficult truth: Sirhan, one man with a gun, acting alone, inflicted grievous harm to our country.”
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Previously published on August 21, 2021
Sirhan Sirhan – the man serving life in prison for assassinating Senator Robert F. “Bobby” Kennedy at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles in 1968, has finally been recommended for parole after his 16th hearing. Two of RFK’s surviving children support Sirhan’s release and believe is he remorseful. Yet six other siblings maintain that their father’s killer should remain behind bars despite his age and they have reportedly vowed to challenge the decision in any way they can.
“We are devastated that the man who murdered our father has been recommended for parole,” they (six of RFK’s children) wrote in a statement issued Friday.
Robert Kennedy was the brother of late President John F. Kennedy and was known for his support of civil rights. He was also known for his support of Israel – and his promise to send 50 fighter jets to Israel should he be elected President. Sirhan, a 24 year-old Arab Palestinian Christian, had moved with his family to California when he was 12. After the Six-Day War of 1967, Sirhan, a troubled young man, became increasingly angered and obsessed by Kennedy’s support of Israel (as entailed in his hand-written journals). He managed to get a gun and shoot into crowd – four shots hit Kennedy who later from those wounds. Others were also injured but survived. Sirhan was initially slated for execution but had his sentence converted to life in prison without parole after California abolished the death penalty.
Tom Jackman of the Washington Post writes, “in Sirhan’s case, Gascón’s office is remaining neutral. The office said it will not attend the parole hearing, as Los Angeles prosecutors have done historically, but it also will not send a letter in support of Sirhan’s parole.”
“And now Sirhan, who has been incarcerated for 53 years, may benefit from a new push among progressive prosecutors to seek the release, or not oppose the release, of convicts who have served decades behind bars, no longer pose a threat to society and will be costly to treat medically in their later years,” wrote Jackman.
Much has been made over the decades regarding whether Sirhan acted alone (not unlike the speculation surrounding Lee Harvey Oswald’s assassination of Bobby Kennedy’s brother in 1963). Sirhan has maintained that he doesn’t remember pulling the trigger on that day.
Is this a done deal? Not entirely. After the California Parole Board reviews the recommendation and makes their final decision, the Governor of California, Gavin Newsom, has the power to block the decision. To date, reps for Newsom have declined to issue a comment. Also of note is California’s pending recall election of Newsom. If Governor Newsom is recalled, the decision could rest on the incoming Governor.
If actually released, Sirhan’s plans to live in Pasadena, California with his brother. There is however also the possibility that he would be deported to Jordan.
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6 of RFK’s children ‘devastated’ by vote to release assassin