California Governor Gavin Newsom hinted he may not to grant Robert F. Kennedy’s assassin, Sirhan Sirhan, freedom despite the parole board’s recommendation.
Newsom told reporters on Wednesday that he has not made a decision but noted that RFK was a big inspiration to him saying: ‘I think that gives you a sense of where I might be leaning right now.’
He made his comments to the press during a stop at an elementary school following his landslide defeat of the gubernatorial recall.
A state parole board recommended that Sirhan Sirhan, 77, be released on parole last month. The ruling by the two-person panel at Sirhan’s 16th parole hearing was then set to be reviewed by the California Parole Board’s staff.
The final decision is left to the governor, who will have 30 days to decide whether to grant it, reverse it or modify it.
Sirhan Sirhan, 77, was recommended to be released on parole by a California panel of Friday after 53 years in prison for murder. He is pictured at his parole hearing on August 27
The final decision on Sirhan’s release will be made by California Governor Gavin Newsom who hinted on Wednesday that he will not grant the parole
Newsom said he did not want to take a public position which would interfere with the official proceedings putting ‘that entire process at risk.’ ‘I don’t want to prejudice any further this process,’ he said.
But Newsom did mention that RFK was a personal hero to him. He has a photo of RFK in both his work and home offices.
‘This is very raw emotionally,’ Newsom said, stirring up ‘memories of that time’ that some people ‘may want to suppress, understandably.’
The governor said that he has been received an influx of messages from people expressing their strong opinions on Sirhan’s parole.
Most notably, six of RFK’s nine surviving children signed a letter publicly pleading with the Parole Board and Newsom not to grant Sirhan’s parole.
‘As children of Robert F. Kennedy, we are devastated that the man who murdered our father has been recommended for parole’ the letter began.
‘We adamantly oppose the parole and release of Sirhan Sirhan and are shocked by a ruling that we believe ignores the standards for parole of a confessed, first-degree murderer in the state of California.’ The siblings directly called on Newsom to reject the parole and insisted that they ‘intend to challenge’ Sirhan’s release ‘every step of the way.’
It was signed by Joseph P. Kennedy II, Courtney Kennedy Hill, Kerry Kennedy, Christopher G. Kennedy, Maxwell T. Kennedy and Rory Kennedy who write that the decision has ‘inflicted enormous additional pain.’
Ethel Kennedy, widow of Robert Kennedy who was assassinated during his 1968 presidential campaign, wrote a letter to the parole board pleading with them to not release Sirhan Sirhan
He should NOT be paroled’: RFK’s widow Ethel Kennedy, 93, joins 6 of her nine surviving kids opposing Sirhan Sirhan’s parole in opposition to sons
RFK’s youngest daughter, Rory, then published an opinion piece in The New York Times brazenly titled ‘The Man Who Murdered My Father Doesn’t Deserve Parole.’
Robert Kennedy’s widow, Ethel Kennedy, 93, released an official statement last week insisting that her husband’s killer should not be paroled.
Ethel released an official statement which read: ‘Bobby believed we should work to ‘tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of the world.’
‘He wanted to end the war in Vietnam and bring people together to build a better, stronger country. More than anything, he wanted to be a good father and loving husband.
‘Our family and our country suffered an unspeakable loss due to the inhumanity of one man. We believe in the gentleness that spared his life, but in taming his act of violence, he should not have the opportunity to terrorize again.’
At the bottom of the printed statement she signed, ‘He should not be paroled,’ and her name.
FOR: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (left) and Douglas Kennedy (right) have supported Sirhan’s recommendation for parole
Ethel described her husband’s death as ‘an unspeakable loss to the inhumanity of one man’ (Pictured Robert (left) and Ethel Kennedy (right) on their wedding day in Greenwich, Connecticut on June 17, 1950)
But two of RFK’s children, Douglas Kennedy, 54, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., 67, have supported Sirhan’s parole.
Douglas addressed the two-person panel that recommended that parole be granted during a virtual hearing, according to The Associated Press.
‘I’m overwhelmed just by being able to view Mr. Sirhan face to face,’ he said moved to tears. ‘I’ve lived my life both in fear of him and his name in one way or another. And I am grateful today to see him as a human being worthy of compassion and love.’
RFK Jr. has spoken in favor of Sirhan’s release, and wrote in a letter that he met with his father’s killer in prison who ‘asked for forgiveness,’ the AP reported.
He has previously stated that he does not believe Sirhan killed his father.
The divided family is reportedly ‘at war’ with each other over Sirhan’s recommendation for parole.
The family members who opposed the release had allegedly promised not to make a statement to the parole board at Sirhan’s hearing on August 27, but according to the New York Post, they blindsided Robert Jr – also known as Bobby – and Douglas, who were in favor of his release.
The rift has caused the family to accuse each other of ‘double-crossing’ the others, a source close to the parole hearing told the Post. ‘Bobby got backstabbed,’ the insider said.
Sirhan’s lawyer, Angela Berry, says the family quarrel erupted into a full-blown showdown between differing factions of the Kennedy clan – those that supported Sirhan’s release and those who did not.
Sirhan was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death in 1969. He is serving a life sentence at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego County, California
‘The night before the hearing I got a letter from the parole board via the LAPD,’ Berry told the news outlet.
‘It read, ‘On behalf of the Kennedy family, we oppose the release of Sirhan.’ [Bobby] had been staying out of it specifically on the assumption that his family was going to stay out of it … I got ahold of him right away letting him know what happened.’
Upon learning of the letter, Bobby composed a last-minute statement of his own the night before the hearing in favor of Sirhan’s parole, which just barely made it in time to be reviewed at the hearing.
‘The parole hearing started at 8:30 am and Robert’s letter streamed in at 10:30 am,’ Berry said.
‘It read in part, ‘I have to assure you that the letter you got is not on behalf of the whole Kennedy family.’ That was the very last thing the hearing officer read into the record.’
Sen. Robert Kennedy and Ambassador Hotel employee Juan Romero moments after RFK was shot by Sirhan Sirhan, June 1968
A mortally wounded Robert Kennedy on the floor of the kitchen at the Ambassador Hotel, June 1968
RFK was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital and pronounced dead a day later, on June 6, 1968
Sirhan stepped towards RFK with a rolled up campaign poster, hiding his .22 revolver shooting him in the head from only a foot away
Sirhan has attempted to be recommended for parole 15 times before Friday’s recommendation. The decision will now move to Governor Gavin Newsom’s desk
While Ethel’s letter may have blindsided several family members, a longtime Kennedy associate said she understood why Ethel ‘weighed in’ on the controversial topic.
‘It’s a disgrace,’ she said.
‘Six kids oppose Sirhan’s release along with the 93-year-old mother who’s gone through nothing but pain and loss for years. What is wrong with those two children who want that lying son of a bitch freed from prison? Where is the family unity?’
Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, 70, is the only member of RFK’s nuclear family that has not publicly announced their opinion of Sirhan’s parole recommendation.
Two of Robert and Ethel’s 11 children are deceased. David Kennedy died at age 28 in 1984 and Michael Kennedy died at age 39 in 1997.
RFK was the younger brother to slain President John F. Kennedy, serving as his brother’s US attorney general. He was then elected as a New York Senator.
RFK was 42 years old when he was pronounced dead on June 6, 1968 at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. The rising politician was shot in the head after giving a victory speech following his win in the South Dakota and California 1968 Democratic presidential primaries.
Sirhan was apprehended at the scene and convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death the next year. He eluded execution when the California Supreme Court briefly outlawed capital punishment in 1972 and lessened his sentence to life in prison with the possibility of parole.
The Palestinian immigrant claimed he had been drinking on the night of the assassination and doesn’t remember pulling the trigger.
If Sirhan is released, he may be deported to Jordan. He never obtained US citizenship after immigrating to the country from Israel as a child.