“SAN DIEGO — California’s parole board voted Friday to free Robert F. Kennedy’s assassin after two of RFK’s sons said they supported releasing him and prosecutors declined to argue he should be kept behind bars. But the governor ultimately will decide if Sirhan Sirhan leaves prison,” Politico reports.
“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 the 77-year-old should be released if he’s not a threat to others.”
“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. But it does not assure his release. The ruling will be reviewed over the next 90 days by the 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. If Sirhan is freed, he must live in a transitional home for six months, enroll in an alcohol abuse program and get therapy.”
“Robert F. Kennedy was a a U.S. senator from New York and the brother of President John F. Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1963. RFK was seeking the Democratic presidential nomination when he was gunned down at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles moments after delivering a victory speech in the pivotal California primary. Five others were wounded. Sirhan, who insists he doesn’t remember the shooting and had been drinking alcohol just beforehand, was convicted of first-degree murder. He 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.”
“Sirhan’s lawyer, Angela Berry, said the board should base its decision on who Sirhan is today and not what he did more than 50 years ago. She said he is not a threat to the public. Sirhan said he had learned to control his anger and was committed to living peacefully. ‘I would never put myself in jeopardy again,’ he told the panel. ‘You have my pledge. I will always look to safety and peace and non-violence.'”
“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…Later, Sirhan said he was too old to be involved in the Middle East conflict and would detach himself from it.”
The key argument that seems to have been missed by the parole board was Sirhan’s statement that “I would never put myself in jeopardy again”. A truly reformed person is supposed to look outward, not inward, so ideally the inmate seeking parole would say something like “I realized what my actions put the family and friends of my victim through, and I don’t don’t want to put someone else through that ever again.” Making a self-centered statement about putting himself in jeopardy suggests that Sirhan still shows signs of antisocial personality disorder with substantial narcissistic tendencies, which coincides with the description of Sirhan from Robert Kessler’s book “Whoever fights monsters” where he describes Sirhan flexing the muscles in his arms and boasting of “the magnificence of Sirhan” to his interviewer.