Robert F Kennedy assassin Sirhan Sirhan recommended for parole, with help of two of RFK’s sons
- The US senator and brother of slain president John F Kennedy was gunned down in Los Angeles in 1968. Sirhan said he does not remember the killing
- Two of Kennedy’s sons supported the decision while six of their siblings opposed it. The decision now goes to California Governor Gavin Newsom
For 15 years, Robert F Kennedy’s assassin Sirhan Sirhan was denied parole by a California parole board that maintained he did not show adequate remorse or understand the enormity of his crime that rocked the nation and the world in 1968.
But on Friday, the two-person panel said he appeared to be a different man, even from his last hearing in 2016, and granted the 77-year-old prisoner parole.
Two of RFK’s sons, going against several of their siblings’ wishes, said they also supported releasing him and prosecutors declined to argue he should be kept behind bars. But the governor ultimately will decide if he leaves prison.
The board found Sirhan no longer poses a threat to society, noting that he had enrolled in more than 20 programmes including anger management classes, tai chi and Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, even during the coronavirus pandemic.
“We think that you have grown,” Parole Board commissioner Robert Barton said.
Douglas Kennedy was a toddler when his father was gunned down in 1968. He told a two-person board panel that he was moved to tears by Sirhan’s remorse and that Sirhan should be released if he is not a threat to others.
