DA won’t challenge release as RFK killer Sirhan seeks parole

[Sugar Cookie]

Sirhan Sirhan faces his 16th parole hearing Friday for fatally shooting U.S. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy in 1968, and for the first time no prosecutor will be there to argue he should be kept behind bars.

Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón, a former police officer who took office last year after running on a reform platform, says he idolized the Kennedys and mourned RFK’s assassination but is sticking to his policy that prosecutors have no role in deciding whether prisoners should be released.

That decision is best left to California Parole Board members who can evaluate whether Sirhan has been rehabilitated and can be released safely, Gascón told The Associated Press earlier this year. Relitigating a case decades after a crime should not be the job of prosecutors, even in notorious cases, he said.

“The role of a prosecutor and their access to information ends at sentencing,” Alex Bastian, special advisor to Gascón, said in a statement Thursday.

The 77-year-old Sirhan has served 53 years for the first-degree murder of the New York senator and brother of President John F. Kennedy. RFK was a Democratic presidential candidate when he was gunned down at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles moments after delivering a victory speech in the pivotal California primary.

Gascón said he admired Kennedy while Sirhan is “the kind of individual that we all like to hate.”

“I can get very emotionally wrapped around my personal feelings (about) someone that killed someone that I thought could have been an incredible president for this country,” Gascón said. “But that has no place in this process. Just like it doesn’t for the person nobody knows about.”

Sirhan’s new defense attorney, Angela Berry, said she couldn’t agree more.

She plans to argue that the board’s decision should be based on who Sirhan is today and not about past events, which is what the board has based its parole denials on before. She said she plans to focus on his exemplary record in prison and show that he poses no danger.

“We can’t change the past, but he was not sentenced to life without the possibility of parole,” Berry told the AP on Thursday. “To justify denying it based on the gravity of the crime and the fact that it disenfranchised millions of Americans is ignoring the rehabilitation that has occurred and that rehabilitation is a more relevant indicator of whether or not a person is still a risk to society.”

Sirhan’s hearing will be presided over by a two-person panel that usually announces its decision the same day. After that, the Parole Board staff has 90 days to review the decision, and then it is handed over to the governor for consideration.

The Parole Board would not say if the Kennedy family or anyone else submitted statements opposing Sirhan’s release. Attempts to reach the Kennedy family for comment were unsuccessful.

Sirhan was sentenced to death after his conviction, but that sentence was commuted to life when the California Supreme Court briefly outlawed capital punishment in 1972. At his last parole hearing in 2016, commissioners concluded after more than three hours of intense testimony that Sirhan did not show adequate remorse or understand the enormity of his crime.

Berry said California laws approved since 2018 support her case. One she plans to point out to the board favors releasing certain older prisoners who committed crimes at a young age when the brain is prone to impulsivity. Sirhan was 24 at the time of the assassination.

Sirhan told the panel then that if released, he hoped he would be deported to Jordan or live with his brother in Pasadena, California.

After 15 denials for his release, Berry said it’s difficult to predict how much of an impact the prosecution’s absence will have on the outcome.

“I like to think it’ll make a difference. But I think everybody is not impervious to the fact that this is political,” she said.

DA won’t challenge release as RFK killer Sirhan seeks parole

Sirhan Sirhan faces his 16th parole hearing Friday for fatally shooting U.S. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy in 1968, and for the first time no prosecutor will be there to argue he should be kept behind bars.

www.wagmtv.com

 

[Sugar Cookie]

Robert F. Kennedy's assassin, Sirhan Sirhan, was granted parole by a California board Friday after spending more than 50 years in prison after two of his sons said they support his release, a decision that still needs to be approved by the governor.

Sirhan gunned down Kennedy, then a Democratic U.S. Senator from New York and brother of President John F. Kennedy, in 1968 at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles moments after Kennedy delivered a victory speech in the pivotal California primary. Sirhan was convicted of first-degree murder.

Sirhan, a Christian Palestinian from Jordan, has said he was angry at Kennedy for his support of Israel.

This was his 16th appearance before the parole board.

"I would never put myself in jeopardy again," he told the parole board from a San Diego County prison where he appeared for the virtual proceeding. "You have my pledge. I will always look to safety and peace and non-violence."

The decision by the two-member panel doesn't assure his release. It will next go up for a board review and requires approval from California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Douglas Kennedy, who was a toddler when his father was killed, said he was moved to tears by Sirhan’s remorse and he should be released if he’s not a threat to others.

"I’m overwhelmed just by being able to view Mr. Sirhan face to face," he said. "I think I’ve lived my life both in fear of him and his name in one way or another. And I am grateful today to see him as a human being worthy of compassion and love."

Sirhan's potential release was opposed by some Kennedy family members, Los Angeles law enforcement officers and members of the public, who submitted letters arguing that he be kept in prison, Parole Board Commissioner Robert Barton said at the start of the proceeding.

If released, Sirhan could be deported to Jordan. That raised concerns for Barton, who said he feared he could be a lightning rod for more violence. Sirhan said he was too old to get involved in the Middle East conflict.

Robert Kennedy's assassin Sirhan Sirhan granted parole by California board

Robert F. Kennedy's assassin, Sirhan Sirhan, was granted parole by a California board after spending more than 50 years in prison Friday after two of his sons said they support his release, a decision that still needs to be approved by the governor.

www.foxnews.com

 

[notchback]

If he had murdered Joe Blow he would have been out 25 years ago.

 

[Turd Fergusen]

California Gov. Gavin Newsom rejects RFK assassin Sirhan Sirhan’s parole​

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California’s governor on Thursday rejected releasing Robert F. Kennedy assassin Sirhan Sirhan from prison more than a half-century after the 1968 slaying left a deep wound during one of America’s darkest times.

Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has cited RFK as his “political hero” and embraced the historical significance of his decision, rejected a recommendation from a two-person panel of parole commissioners. Newsom said Sirhan, now 77, 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 his decision. “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.”

California Gov. Gavin Newsom rejects RFK assassin Sirhan Sirhan’s parole

California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday rejected releasing Robert F. Kennedy assassin Sirhan Sirhan from prison more than a half-century after the infamous 1968 slaying.

nypost.com

 

[Sevens My Charm]

What a fucking idiot ..

 

[Sudonim]

Two of Kennedy’s children, Douglas Kennedy and Robert F.Kennedy Jr, submitted letters on Sirhan’s behalf. Robert Jr. said he believed his father would’ve shown Sirhan mercy.


For Newsom, who has referred to Kennedy as his “political hero,” the decision was also a personal one. He has told reporters that he keeps a photo of Kennedy and his father, appellate court Judge William Newsom, on his desk.

Personal decisions should have no place in a public office. Just because daddy has a picture with someone doesn't mean you should feel personally attached to them. He was only a year old when RFK died. He has no memory of the crime or its impact yet he drivels on like he does. The parole board voted to let him out. He shouldnt be over riding it on some personal vendetta. Thats not what the justice system is about.

 

[knockout]

Personal decisions should have no place in a public office. Just because daddy has a picture with someone doesn't mean you should feel personally attached to them. He was only a year old when RFK died. He has no memory of the crime or its impact yet he drivels on like he does. The parole board voted to let him out. He shouldnt be over riding it on some personal vendetta. Thats not what the justice system is about.

He is overriding the death penalty California voted in favor of. He’s a liberal democrat, he doesn’t have to answer to the people stupid enough to elect him

 

[Satanica]

SAN DIEGO (AP) — A California panel on Wednesday denied parole for Robert F. Kennedy assassin Sirhan Sirhan, saying the 78-year-old prisoner still lacks insight into what caused him to shoot the senator and presidential candidate in 1968, Sirhan’s lawyer said.

That contradicted the decision by a different parole board two years ago when its members found Sirhan to be suitable for release. Gov. Gavin Newson rejected the decision in 2022, keeping him in state prison.

Sirhan’s lawyer Angela Berry disputed he lacks insight and argued at Wednesday’s hearing that his psychiatrists have said for decades that he is unlikely to reoffend or be a danger to society.

Berry said she believes the new board members were influenced by Newsom and by the lawyers representing Kennedy’s widow and some of his children — several relatives of the slain politician are opposed to Sirhan’s release, though not all are.

In rejecting Sirhan’s freedom last year, the governor said the prisoner remains a threat to the public and hasn’t taken responsibility for a crime that changed American history.

“I do feel the board bent to the political whim of the governor,” Berry said after the hearing at a state prison in San Diego County.
[....]
The parole board hearing comes nearly six months after Berry asked a Los Angeles County judge to reverse Newsom’s denial. The case is ongoing, and Berry said it was unclear how Wednesday’s denial by the board will affect it.
[....]
In a 3 1/2-minute message played during a news conference held by Berry in September, Sirhan said he feels remorse every day for his actions. It was the first time Sirhan’s voice had been heard publicly since a televised parole hearing in 2011, before California barred audio or visual recordings of such proceedings.

“To transform this weight into something positive, I have dedicated my life to self-improvement, the mentoring of others in prison on how to live a peaceful life that revolves around nonviolence,” he said. “By doing this, I ensure that no other person is victimized by my actions again and hopefully make an impact on others to follow.”
[....]
A Christian Palestinian from Jordan who suffered childhood trauma from the bombings in the Middle East, Sirhan has acknowledged he was angry at Kennedy for his support of Israel, but he has insisted he doesn’t remember the shooting and had been drinking alcohol just beforehand.

Sirhan, who was convicted of first-degree murder, originally was sentenced to death, but the sentence was commuted to life when the California Supreme Court briefly outlawed capital punishment in 1972.

He was denied parole 15 times until 2021, when the board recommended his release.

Sirhan’s younger brother, Munir Sirhan, has said his brother can live with him in Pasadena, California, if he is paroled. Sirhan Sirhan has waived his right to fight deportation to his native Jordan.

Berry filed a 53-page writ of habeas corpus asking the judge to rule that Newsom violated state law, which holds that inmates should be paroled unless they pose a current unreasonable public safety risk. Recent California laws also required the parole panel to consider that Sirhan committed the offense at a young age — 24 — and that he is now an older prisoner.

She is challenging the governor’s reversal as an “abuse of discretion,” a denial of Sirhan’s constitutional right to due process and as a violation of California law. She also alleges that Newsom misstated the facts in his decision.

Newsom overruled two parole commissioners who had found that Sirhan no longer was a risk. Among other factors, Newsom said Sirhan has failed to disclaim violence committed in his name, adding to the risk that he could incite political unrest.

The ruling split the Kennedy family, with RFK’s widow, Ethel Kennedy, and several of Kennedy’s nine surviving children opposing his parole.

Wednesday’s board denied Sirhan parole for three years, but he can file a petition to request that his 17th parole hearing be held before then.

RFK killer Sirhan Sirhan denied parole by California board

A California panel has denied parole for Robert F. Kennedy assassin Sirhan Sirhan. Sirhan’s lawyer Angela Berry says the parole board decided the 78-year-old prisoner still lacks insight into what caused him to shoot the senator and presidential candidate in 1968.

apnews.com