California Governor Gavin Newsom rejected the recommendation of the state’s parole board to release Robert F. Kennedy’s assassin, Sirhan Sirhan, who has been in jail since 1969, the Associated Press reports.
“Mr. Sirhan’s assassination of Senator Kennedy is among the most notorious crimes in American history,” Newsom wrote in his decision. “After decades in prison, he 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.”
Sirhan will be eligible for a parole hearing, no later than February 2023. His advocates for parole, which include Kennedy’s son Robert F. Kennedy Jr., claim that either Sirhan has fulfilled his sentence or, like RFK Jr., believe that Sirhan was a patsy for the real assassin.