California Gov. Gavin Newsom rejects parole for Sirhan Sirhan, Robert F. Kennedy’s killer

Gov. Gavin Newsom rejected parole for Sen. Robert F. Kennedy’s killer Sirhan Sirhan on Thursday, saying the senator’s death “changed the course of this nation.”

Sirhan was convicted of first-degree murder for fatally shooting Kennedy and wounding five others after a campaign event in 1968 at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.

Kennedy, 42, led the field of Democrats campaigning for the presidential nomination when he died. He was shot just after claiming victory in California’s primary.

His assassination came five years after that of his brother, President John F. Kennedy, and just two months after the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was shot and killed. The death of RFK, as he was known, shattered the dreams of Americans who opposed the Vietnam War and hoped his election to the presidency would bring about its end.

“Kennedy’s assassination not only changed the course of this nation and robbed the world of a promising young leader, it also left his 11 children without a father and his wife without a husband,” Newsom wrote in an op-ed published Thursday in the Los Angeles Times. “After decades in prison, Sirhan still lacks the insight that would prevent him from making the kind of dangerous and destructive decisions he made in the past. The most glaring proof of Sirhan’s deficient insight is his shifting narrative about his assassination of Kennedy, and his current refusal to accept responsibility for it.”

A two-person parole board recommended Sirhan for early release over the summer after determining he no longer poses a danger to society, citing his young age at the time of the crime and his elderly age now, according to CNN.

Sirhan, 77, is a Palestinian Christian who was born in Jerusalem. He became a Jordanian citizen before emigrating to the U.S. as a teen. His lawyer says he witnessed horrific violence as a child amid conflict in the Middle East.

After killing Kennedy, Sirhan said he had opposed the senator’s support for Israel. He is currently serving a life sentence.

Sirhan had argued he is no longer the same person he was at 24 when he shot Kennedy, and has said he wants to live with his brother in Pasadena.

Two of Kennedy’s children — Robert Jr. and Douglas — supported parole for Sirhan.

“I’m overwhelmed just by being able to view Mr. Sirhan face to face,” Douglas Kennedy said during Sirhan’s parole hearing, according to CNN. “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.”

Kennedy’s widow, Ethel Kennedy, and six of his other children opposed his parole. She said that while she supported the California Supreme Court decision that spared Sirhan from California’s execution chamber in 1972, she does not believe he should be freed.

“Our family and our country suffered an unspeakable loss due to the inhumanity of one man,” she wrote in a statement in September, which her daughter posted on Twitter. “We believe in the gentleness that spared his life, but in taming his act of violence, he should not have the opportunity to terrorize again.”

Newsom previously hinted he would oppose parole for Sirhan, pointing to his reverence for Kennedy, whom he described as a “hero.”

Responding to a question about Sirhan’s parole in September, Newsom said he displays photos of Kennedy’s funeral procession in the governor’s office at the Capitol. In his home office, he has half a dozen photos of the late senator, including one where Kennedy is pictured with Newsom’s father.

The governor on Thursday also pardoned 24 people and granted reprieves to five. Those pardoned include an Army officer, a Coast Guard volunteer, eight people facing deportation and others convicted of cannabis crimes.

Newsom also commuted the sentences of 18 people, including Rahsaan “New York” Thomas, a co-host of a podcast produced inside San Quentin State Prison called Ear Hustle. Several of the commutations were for people who committed crimes as teenagers.

This story was originally published January 13, 2022 at 2:24 PM.