California’s Board of Parole Hearings has denied Sirhan Sirhan — the man convicted of assassinating Robert F. Kennedy — parole for the 17th time.
Sirhan shot Kennedy, a New York senator, several times as Kennedy left the ballroom of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles after he had given a speech upon winning California’s Democratic presidential primary on June 5, 1968. Kennedy died the following day from his wounds.
Sirhan has been serving his sentence at the R.J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego since being found guilty of first-degree murder in 1969. He had been given the death penalty, however, this was commuted to life in prison once the state banned capital punishment in 1972.
What is unusual about this refusal for parole is that the same board had recommended Sirhan for parole in August 2021. According to CNN, this decision was reversed in early 2022 by California Governor Gavin Newsom.
As a statement from the governor’s office explained at the time, “an extensive review of Mr. Sirhan’s case … determined that he currently poses an unreasonable threat to public safety.”
“Mr. Sirhan’s assassination of Senator Kennedy is among the most notorious crimes in American history,” Newsom wrote in 2022, per the statement. “After decades in prison, he has failed to address the deficiencies that led him to assassinate Senator Kennedy. Mr. Sirhan lacks the insight that would prevent him from making the same types of dangerous decisions he made in the past.”
At age 24, Sirhan had allegedly plotted to kill Kennedy, motivated by the senator’s support for Israel during the Arab-Israeli war in 1967. Sirhan had been born to a Christian family in Palestine, allegedly witnessed atrocities, and immigrated to California as a teenager with his family.
According to contemporary reporting by United Press International, Sirhan allegedly told the psychiatrists evaluating his suitability for trial — his defense attorneys had unsuccessfully pursued a mental disorder defense — that he had wanted to be a martyr for the Arab world.
Although Newsom has yet to comment on the latest board decision, Angela Berry, the attorney representing Sirhan, has suggested that the latest refusal of parole was influenced by the governor’s opposition to his release.
“I do feel the board bent to the political whim of the governor,” Berry said after the hearing, per The BBC. Moreover, Berry has submitted a 53-page habeas corpus alleging that the governor’s intervention violated state law.
“They found him suitable for release last time and nothing has changed,” Berry said, according to CBS News. “He’s continued to show great behavior.
During his 16th parole board hearing back in 2021, Sirhan told the panel, as reported by The BBC, “Over half a century has passed. That young impulsive kid I was does not exist anymore. Kennedy’s family is divided on the issue. While some have been in favor of Sirhan’s release, others, like Kennedy’s widow, have not.
Reacting to the governor’s reversal of the board’s decision last year, a joint statement from Kennedy’s family in support of keeping Sirhan in prison read, per CNN, “Because of how entwined into popular culture this murder has become, amplified by the regularity of the inmate’s attempts to be freed, our family has been forced to watch our husband and father be killed thousands of times.”
“We are deeply grateful for this decision, aimed at ensuring that no family nor our nation will suffer the same heart-breaking, irredeemable loss,” the statement added.