By Minyvonne
Burke
California Governor Gavin Newsom on Thursday denied parole to Senator Robert F. Kennedy's assassin Sirhan Bishara Sirhan.
A two-person panel found Sirhan eligible for parole in August.
California Parole Board staff had 120 days to review the decision, and the governor had an additional 30 days to approve, deny or modify it.
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Newsom explained his decision to overturn the parole board's recommendation in an editorial published by the Los Angeles Times.
"After carefully reviewing the case, including the records in the California State Archives, I have determined that Sirhan has not developed the responsibility and insight necessary to support his safe release into the community," Newsom wrote.
"I must revoke Sirhan's conditional release," he added.
Sirhan Sirhan at a parole hearing on Aug. 27, 2021, in San Diego, Calif. California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation via AP
He went on to say that although Sirhan is 77 years old and decades have passed, he "remains a potent symbol of political violence."
"He doesn't understand, let alone have the skills to manage, the complex risks of his self-created notoriety," Newsom said.
"He cannot get out of prison safely because he has not mitigated his risk of fomenting more political violence," he
concluded.
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It was the 16th time Sirhan had applied for parole after his conviction for murdering Kennedy, 42, in the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles on June 5, 1968.
Kennedy, who had been celebrating his victory in the state's Democratic presidential primary, died the next day.
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The Kennedy family issued a statement thanking Newsom.
They said that while they support parole for inmates who have shown true remorse and reform, Kennedy's widow and children do not believe that applies to Sirhan.
“Instead of repenting, this inmate points to what he sees on the clock instead of what he knows in his heart, somehow believing that the passage of time is sufficient atonement,” his statement read.
"It is not enough, and the time that has elapsed is not enough, to warrant the parole of a man who is completely devoid of knowledge of his premeditated political assassination."
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They added that the pain of reliving the murder, in part due to Sirhan's repeated attempts to gain parole, "is simply unbearable."
Sirhan, a Jordanian Christian of Palestinian origin who opposed Kennedy's support for Israel, was caught with a gun in his hand but has maintained for years that he has no recollection of shooting Kennedy.
He was initially sentenced to death, but
the sentence was commuted to life in prison after California outlawed the death penalty
.
Sirhan Bishara Sirhan is escorted by his attorney, Russell E. Parsons, from the Los Angeles County jail chapel to plead guilty to the Los Angeles assassination of United States Senator Robert F. Kennedy on June 28, 1968. George Brich /AP
The Los Angeles County District Attorney's office, for the first time, did not oppose Sirhan's latest bid for freedom.
But Kennedy's widow, Ethel Kennedy, and other family members opposed his release.
“Bobby believed that we should work to 'tame the savagery of man and make the life of the world lovable.'
He wanted to end the Vietnam War and bring people together to build a stronger, better country.
More than anything, he wanted to be a good father and a loving husband," Ethel Kennedy said in a statement in September.
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“Our family and our country suffered unspeakable loss due to one man's inhumanity.
We believe in the finesse that spared his life, but by taming his act of violence, he should not have the opportunity to terrorize again," he said, ending his statement with: "He should not be put on parole."
In a separate statement, the Kennedy children urged parole board staff, the full board and the governor "to reverse" the parole recommendation.
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