California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) overruled the parole board’s recommendation of parole for RFK assassin Sirhan Sirhan on Thursday, January 13, 2022 (see story here).
The governor’s rationale goes like this: “He does not understand, let alone have the skills to manage, the complex risks of his self-created notoriety. He cannot be safely released from prison because he has not mitigated his risk of fomenting further political violence.”
Newsom appeared to allude to factors beyond Sirhan himself, such the symbolism of his act that might inspire others to political violence. But he also criticized Sirhan for not taking responsibility for his crime. In his parole hearing, Sirhan didn’t even admit it; he said, “It pains me … the knowledge for such a horrible deed, if I did, in fact, do that.” Sirhan has said he was drunk and doesn’t remember shooting Robert F. Kennedy, who was running for president in the 1968 primaries on a promise to end the Vietnam War.
Nixon won the 1968 election and escalated the war in a failed bid to achieve a military victory, then turned the fighting over to the South Vietnamese, who were quickly overrun by the communist insurgency led by Ho Chi Minh. Nixon won re-election in 1972, but the Watergate scandal forced him to resign two years later.
Sirhan has spent 53 years in prison for murdering Kennedy. The latter’s family is divided on releasing him. RFK’s death was one of the major history-changing assassinations in U.S. history, and for that reason alone, Sirhan arguably should never get out of prison. No one made him kill Kennedy. He chose his own fate.
Photo: Sirhan in 1969, a year after Kennedy’s assassination
Soirhan looks like an old man and does not look like a credible threat to anyone. A judge will be involved next and if he is not released there will be another parole hearing and we can repeat this in a year.
This guy looks like an old man and does not look like a credible threat to anyone. Would you parole him on that basis?