Sirhan Sirhan, the Palestinian-born immigrant who assassinated presidential candidate Sen. Robert F. Kennedy (D) the night he won the California primary in 1968, is asking a judge Wednesday to let him walk free from prison.
Legal counsel for the killer seeks to reverse California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s denial of his parole earlier this year.
Newsom (D) said the convicted murderer remains a threat to the public and hasn’t taken responsibility for a crime that added a dark page to the annals of U.S. history, as Breitbart News reported.
In January he rejected a recommendation from a two-person panel of parole commissioners who previously said Sirhan should be freed.
Kennedy, a Democratic U.S. senator from New York, was shot within moments of claiming victory in California’s pivotal Democratic presidential primary. Five others were wounded during the deadly gunfire at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.
Sirhan Sirhan later said he resented Kennedy partly because of his support for Israel. He shouted he had killed Kennedy “for my country” at the scene of the crime.
In 1989, he told interviewer David Frost: “My only connection with Robert Kennedy was his sole support of Israel.”
His attorney, Angela Berry, says there is no evidence the now 78-year-old convicted killer remains dangerous, AP reports.
She is filing what’s known as a writ of habeas corpus asking a judge to rule Newsom violated state law, which holds inmates should be paroled unless they pose a current unreasonable public safety risk.
Recent California laws also required the parole panel to consider that Sirhan committed the offense at a young age, when he was 24, and that he is now an elderly prisoner.
File/As curious village youngsters listen, Bishara Sirhan, 52, father of Sirhan Bishara Sirhan, charged with the shooting of Robert F. Kennedy, talks to reporters outside his home. “I am shocked beyond words,” he said. “This is the blackest day of my life.” (Getty)
Berry said she is challenging the governor’s reversal as an “abuse of discretion,” a denial of Sirhan’s constitutional right to due process and as a violation of California law. The writ also alleges Newsom misstated the facts in his decision.
Berry claims the governor “acted with personal bias, incorporated the wrong law, ignored mitigation evidence, and did not afford Sirhan the same rights as others eligible for parole.”
It’s unclear how quickly a judge might rule on Berry’s petition, and either side could appeal an adverse decision, but Sirhan is set for a new parole hearing on March 1.
File/Police “mug shot” of the suspect in the shooting of Senator Robert F. Kennedy, June 5th. Seized moments after Kennedy fell with a bullet in his brain, he has been identified as Sirhan Bashira Sirhan, 24. Kennedy died early June 6th — struck down at the brightest moment of his try for the White House, after claiming victory in the California primary election. (Getty)
The assassin originally was sentenced to death, but that was commuted to life when the California Supreme Court briefly outlawed capital punishment in 1972.
Sirhan Sirhan is not a U.S. citizen and theoretically could face deportation to the Middle East if released.