Six of Robert F. Kennedy’s nine living children have condemned the decision to grant parole to Sirhan Sirhan, the assassin who shot and killed the New York senator in 1968 as he ran for the Democratic presidential nomination.
California’s parole board voted on Friday to free Sirhan after two of RFK’s sons said that they supported releasing him and prosecutors declined to argue he should be kept behind bars. The decision was a major victory for the 77-year-old prisoner, though it does not assure his release.
The ruling by the two-person panel at Sirhan’s 16th parole hearing will be reviewed over the next 90 days by the California Parole Board’s staff. Then it will be sent to the governor, who will have 30 days to decide whether to grant it, reverse it or modify it.
In a statement posted to Twitter early Saturday, six of Kennedy’s children said: “We are devastated that the man who murdered our father has been recommended for parole… He took our father from our family and he took him from America. We are in disbelief that this man would be recommended for release.”
The statement was signed by Joseph P. Kennedy II, Courtney Kennedy, Kerry Kennedy, Christopher G. Kennedy, Maxwell T. Kennedy, and Rory Kennedy.
“Our father’s death impacted our family in ways that can never adequately be articulated,” they wrote, adding that the decision has “inflicted enormous additional pain.” They urged the parole board to reverse the recommendation.
Kennedy had 11 children with his wife Ethel, one of whom died in the early 1980s and another in the late 1990s.
Two of his sons have supported the decision to parole Sirhan.
Douglas Kennedy, who was a toddler when his father was gunned down in 1968, said that he was moved to tears by Sirhan’s remorse and that Sirhan 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.”
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said that he was moved by Sirhan, “who wept, clinching my hands, and asked for forgiveness” when they met in prison, the Guardian reported.
“While nobody can speak definitively on behalf of my father, I firmly believe that based on his own consuming commitment to fairness and justice, that he would strongly encourage this board to release Mr. Sirhan because of Sirhan’s impressive record of rehabilitation,” he added.
RFK, the New York senator and brother of President John F. Kennedy was a Democratic presidential candidate when he was gunned down June 6, 1968, at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles moments after delivering a victory speech in the pivotal California primary.
In this June 5, 1968 file photo, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy awaits medical assistance as he lies on the floor of the Ambassador hotel in Los Angeles moments after he was shot. (Boris Yaro/Los Angeles Times via AP, File)
Sirhan smiled, thanked the board and gave a thumbs-up after the decision to grant parole was announced. It was a major victory in his 16th attempt at parole. If Sirhan is freed, he must live in a transitional home for six months, enroll in an alcohol abuse program and get therapy.
Sirhan, who was convicted of first-degree murder, has said that he doesn’t remember the killing.
His lawyer, Angela Berry, argued that the board should base its decision on who Sirhan is today.
Speaking by video from a San Diego county prison, Sirhan said: “Senator Kennedy was the hope of the world… and I harmed all of them and it pains me to experience that, the knowledge for such a horrible deed, if I did in fact do that,” according to the Guardian report.
Prosecutors declined to participate or oppose Sirhan’s release under a policy by Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón, a former police officer who took office last year after running on a reform platform.
Gascón, who said he idolized the Kennedys and mourned RFK’s assassination, believes the prosecutors’ role ends at sentencing and they should not influence decisions to release prisoners.
Sirhan told members of the California Parole Board that he had learned to control his anger and was committed to living peacefully.
In this image provided by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Sirhan Sirhan arrives for a parole hearing Friday, Aug. 27, 2021, in San Diego. Sirhan faces his 16th parole hearing Friday for fatally shooting U.S. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy in 1968. (California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation via AP)
“I would never put myself in jeopardy again,” he said. “You have my pledge. I will always look to safety and peace and non-violence.”
Sirhan has served 53 years for the murder of the New York senator and brother of US President John F. Kennedy.
Sirhan, a Christian Palestinian from Jordan, has acknowledged he was angry at Kennedy for his support of Israel.
When asked about how he feels about the Middle East conflict today, Sirhan broke down crying and temporarily couldn’t speak.
“Take a few deep breaths,” said Barton, who noted the conflict had not gone away and still touched a nerve.
Sirhan said that he doesn’t follow what’s going on in the region, but thinks about the suffering of refugees.
This June 1968 file photo shows Sirhan Sirhan, right, accused assassin of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy with his attorney Russell E. Parsons in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/File)
“The misery that those people are experiencing. It’s painful,” Sirhan said.
If released, Sirhan could be deported to Jordan, and Barton said that he was concerned Sirhan might become a “symbol or lightning rod to foment more violence.”
Sirhan said that he was too old to be involved in the Middle East conflict and would detach himself from it.
“The same argument can be said or made that I can be a peacemaker, and a contributor to a friendly nonviolent way of resolving the issue,” Sirhan said.
Paul Schrade, who was wounded in the shooting, also spoke in favor of his release.
Berry, Sirhan’s attorney, argued 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 decisions on before. She said that she plans to focus on his exemplary record in prison and show that he poses no danger.
In this May 9, 1968 file photo, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy speaks to the delegates of the United Auto Workers at a convention hall in Atlantic City, N.J. In 1968, during his campaign for the presidency, he was shot and killed in Los Angeles, moments after winning the California Democratic primary. (AP Photo, File)
“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 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 that 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 has in the past stuck to his account that he doesn’t remember the killing. However, he has recalled events before the crime in detail — going to a shooting range that day, visiting the hotel in search of a party and returning after realizing he was too drunk to drive after downing Tom Collins cocktails.
Just before the assassination, Sirhan drank coffee in a hotel pantry with a woman to whom he was attracted. The next thing he has said that he remembered was being choked and unable to breathe as he was taken into custody. At his 2016 hearing, he said that he felt remorse for any crime victim but couldn’t take responsibility for the shooting.
Sirhan told the panel then that if released, he hoped he would be deported to Jordan or live with his brother in Pasadena, California.
