Governor reverses Parole Board, Sirhan stays in prison

Gov. Gavin Newsom reversed the Parole Board on Thursday, saying assassin Sirhan Sirhan has failed to develop “the insight necessary to mitigate his current dangerousness” despite 55 years in prison.

The Parole Board decided in August to grant Sirhan parole but Newsom determined he still poses an unreasonable threat to public safety.

“Mr. Sirhan’s assassination of Sen. Kennedy is among the most notorious crimes in American history,” Newsom said in a statement Thursday. “After decades in prison, he has failed to address the deficiencies that led him to assassinate Sen. Kennedy. Mr. Sirhan lacks the insight that would prevent him from making the same types of dangerous decisions he made in the past.”

Angela Berry of Encino, who represented Sirhan during his parole hearing, did not respond to request for comment by press time.

In 1969, Sirhan was sentenced to death for killing Kennedy and shooting of five others during a political rally at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.

Following changes in state law, his death sentence was modified in 1972 to life with the possibility of parole.

He made 16 appearances before the parole board. Most of Kennedy’s family has opposed granting Sirhan parole, except for two of the late senator’s sons, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Douglas Kennedy.

Newsom said Sirhan’s refusal to accept responsibility for his crime, lack of insight and accountability required to support his release and failure to disclaim violence committed in his name were among the reasons why he reversed the parole decision.

“My review is independent of the board’s authority, but it is guided by the same ‘essential’ question: whether the inmate currently poses a risk to public safety,” Newsom wrote in his parole release review of Sirhan. “In weighing this question, California law grants me the discretion ‘to be ‘more stringent or cautious’ in determining whether an [inmate] poses an unreasonable risk to public safety.”

“Despite his 53 years of incarceration, Mr. Sirhan has failed to develop the insight necessary to mitigate his current dangerousness and is unsuitable for parole,” Newsom continued.