![](https://heysocal.com/wp-content/themes/heymediadev/assets/img/logos/beacon_white.png)
![](https://heysocal.com/wp-content/themes/heymediadev/assets/img/logos/logo-white.png)
Gov. Gavin Newsom rejected parole Thursday for Sirhan Sirhan, who assassinated Sen. Robert F. Kennedy in 1968 at Los Angeles’ Ambassador Hotel.
A two-person state parole panel in August recommended that Sirhan be released from the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in Otay Mesa in San Diego County, but the governor wrote that he disagreed with the finding that the 77-year-old inmate was suitable for parole.
“The gravity of Mr. Sirhan’s crimes alone counsels against his release,” the governor wrote in his decision. “But I have concluded that he is unsuitable for parole because he poses a current threat to public safety. After decades in prison, Mr. Sirhan 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.”
The governor wrote that “the most glaring evidence of Mr. Sirhan’s deficient insight is his shifting narrative about his assassination of Senator Kennedy, and his current refusal to accept responsibility for his crimes.”
In a statement released shortly after the governor’s decision was announced, the senator’s widow, Ethel, and six of the couple’s children wrote that they were “grateful to California Governor Gavin Newsom, and deeply relieved by his decision to deny parole to the killer of Robert F. Kennedy.”
“A little over 53 years ago, our family gathered for its first Christmas without our beloved husband and father. Six months earlier, one man killed him in plain view of his wife, friends, staff, journalists and photographers. Eleven children were left without a father, their mother without her husband — and our nation deprived of a unique leader,” the family said in the statement.
Kennedy’s youngest son, Douglas, spoke in favor of Sirhan’s release during the parole hearing last summer, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. also sent a letter to the board in support of parole.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office did not send a representative to the hearing. District Attorney George Gascon has set a policy against attending parole hearings for defendants who have served lengthy prison sentences beyond the required minimum term. His office took the position that the parole board has all the information it needs to decide if an inmate is suitable for release.
A Palestinian from Jordan, Sirhan was initially sentenced to death, but it was later commuted to life in prison after the state Supreme Court declared capital punishment unconstitutional in 1972.
We are able to provide high-quality political journalism to you for free thanks to our advertisers. So that you can continue to enjoy HEYSOCAL's in-depth reporting, we ask that you please turn off your ad blocker and come on in, free of charge.
Subscribe to our newsletter for this giveaway and many more. Also, stay in the loop for SoCal news and updates.
Your subscription has been confirmed. You've been added to our list and will hear from us soon.
Your request has been confirmed! We will get in touch with you shortly.
This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Essential Cookies should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.
If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.
This website uses Google Analytics to collect anonymous information such as the number of visitors to the site, and the most popular pages.
Keeping this cookie enabled helps us to improve our website.
Please enable Essential Cookies first so that we can save your preferences!
You can find more information about our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy