Joe Kennedy II pushes to reverse parole for RFK assassin Sirhan Sirhan

LOS ANGELES — It could ultimately be up to Gov. Gavin Newsom to determine whether the man who assassinated Robert F. Kennedy in 1968 should be paroled.

Sirhan Sirhan — who was 24 when he shot and killed the former U.S. senator and Democratic presidential candidate at a Los Angeles hotel in 1968 — was deemed suitable for release by a two-person parole panel Friday afternoon.

The decision was blasted Sunday by Joseph P. Kennedy II, son of Robert F. Kennedy and a former Massachusetts Congressman.

“Two commissioners of the 18-member California Parole Board made a grievous error last Friday in recommending the release of the man who murdered my father,” Kennedy said in a statement.

“The prisoner killed my father because of his support of Israel. The man was tried, convicted and sentenced to death. Yet he now may walk free, no doubt to the cheers of those who share his views,” Kennedy said.

“Let there be no mistake, the prisoner’s release will be celebrated by those who believe that political disagreements can be solved by a gun.”

Sirhan, now 77, later admitted to the killing and has been in prison for 53 years. He originally faced the death penalty but his sentence was commuted to life after California briefly outlawed capital punishment in the 1970s.

Members of the Kennedy family have been publicly divided on the question.

Supporting parole, two of Kennedy’s children submitted letters on Sirhan’s behalf. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — who has previously expressed doubt about Sirhan’s guilt and echoed others’ claims that a second gunman actually killed the senator, and Douglas Kennedy, who told the parole board he was moved to tears by Sirhan’s remorse.

But in a joint statement late Friday, six of Kennedy’s surviving children — Joseph P. Kennedy II, Courtney Kennedy, Kerry Kennedy, Christopher G. Kennedy, Maxwell T. Kennedy and Rory Kennedy — said they were devastated that the man who murdered their father received the recommendation.

“Our father’s death is a very difficult matter for us to discuss publicly and for the past many decades we have declined to engage directly in the parole process,” the brother’s and sisters said in the statement.

On Sunday, Joseph Kennedy II said, “I hope the full parole board will reverse the decision over the ongoing review period and that the California governor, if faced with the choice to release him, will keep him in prison to serve out his full life sentence.”

“The murderer of anyone who runs for or holds public office because of his political stance must know that he will at a minimum spend life in prison without parole,” Kennedy said.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3sZjaJj