Newly elected Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón told The Washington Post shortly before his inauguration in December that he was creating a sentencing review unit to revisit the cases of about 20,000 prisoners for possible resentencing, analyzing both the fairness of long sentences and the cost savings for releasing low-risk or older inmates....
In Sirhan’s case, Gascón’s office is remaining neutral....Kennedy is survived by his wife, Ethel Kennedy, and nine children, many of whom declined to comment....
Ethel Kennedy is still alive. She's 93 and has never remarried. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for some reason has come to believe that Sirhan was not the killer, and he's met with Sirhan and told him so.
ADDED: "Ethel publicly stated that she still considered herself married to Bobby and would not marry again, instead devoting herself to furthering his work and legacy."Under California law in effect in 1968, a life sentence with parole would have made Sirhan eligible for release after seven years. He has had no disciplinary violations since 1972, and although he claims not to remember the act of shooting Kennedy, he has expressed remorse in parole hearings since the 1980s....
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The assassin so nice they named him twice.
Sirhan's a sucker...he should have run for the senate.
Seriously- is there any doubt he is the one who shot Kennedy? Just the fact that he claims to not remember is pretty damning all by itself- an innocent man would claim innocence, not amnesia. Were it my father he killed, I would do whatever it took to make sure he died in prison, even the "difficult" task of writing and voicing an objection to parole.
Robert F Kennedy Jr is an idiot.
"53 years behind bars is sufficient punishment for the 77-year-old" I will never understand people's approach to this. What was the point of keeping him in a cage for 53 years? That's "sufficient punishment" to pay for a murder? I don't agree. I don't agree that keeping him behind bars for the rest of his life is sufficient punishment to pay for a murder either.
And if it's not sufficient punishment I see no other point to it at all.
No, Washington Post, Gascón’s office is NOT remaining neutral. When a prosecutor takes no position, ceding the floor to the defense, the prosecutor is de facto putting its imprimatur on release.
On the larger issue, political assassinations (and I include assassinations of national figures such as Rev. Martin L. King Jr. -- about whom Bobby Kennedy spoke so eloquently on the bed of a pickup truck in Indianapolis the night of King's murder) are an assault on our entire system and the people's political will, and merit if not the death penalty then life without parole.
Not surprising since for a number of years we've scraping out the bottom of the Kennedy barrel and hardly anyone left in this inbred batch knows who Sirhan Sirhan is...
...however I can confirm panties still snap off when one of them walks into a Boston Starbucks.
So the Jan 6th protesters are held without trial because they won't confess and renounce thought crimes, but Sirhan Sirhan gets out without any such atonement for shooting someone to death?
Who does he think he is? A plainclothes Capitol Police officer?
I read a lot of books about the RFK assassination.
One of the most interesting was Why Robert Kennedy Was Killed: The Story of Two Victims, by Godfrey Jansen. He was an English journalist, fluent in Arabic, stationed in Lebanon. In the days following the assassination, he traveled to Jerusalem and interviewed a lot of Sirhan's relatives and childhood acquaintances. Later, Jansen traveled to the USA and interviewed relatives and acquaintances there.
The lasting impression that the book left on me was that Sirhan had good reasons for hating the Israelis. He and his family suffered terribly from the Israeli occupation. I don't remember the details, but it was just a long series of outrages. The family was Christian and had been rather prosperous, but the family was ruined economically and emotionally.
Of course, the two victims mentioned in the book's title are RFK and Sirhan.
Yes, I know all about the hypnotism and Aristotle Onassis and all the other conspiracy aspects of the RFK assassination.
However, Sirhan hated Israel so much that he needed no other reason for the assassination after he heard that RFK intended to provide fighter aircraft to Israel.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.?
but, isn't he INSANE? or, do you think that he's a comedian, that just acts insane?
This bastard was originally sentenced to death. he got lucky when the Supreme Court in a moment of insanity temporarily abolished the death penalty. There is no benefit to society in releasing him and he certainly isn't remorseful. It's bad enough he wasn't executed at least he should die in prison. Of course a Commie DA would not oppose a Palestinian who killed RFK because of Israel. To Gascon, he is a hero.
Prediction: Once released he’ll go to the Middle East where he’ll be feted as a hero.
The Kennedy women were for the most part better than the Kennedy men. The men were a mixture of larger than life, a bit of good and deeply flawed but the woman for the most part were a cut above.
GOOD One!!!!- Wince at 2:55 pm!!!
"Who killed the Kennedys?"
When after all... it was you and me
Here is a long article I wrote about the book Nemesis: The True Story of Aristotle Onassis, Jackie O, and the Love Triangle That Brought Down the Kennedys, by Peter Evans.
In that regard, another superb book is Bobby and Jackie: A Love Story, by C. David Heymann. This book is chock-full of convincing evidence that RFK and Jackie had a sexual affair after the JFK assassination.
That affair was one of several reasons why Aristotle Onassis hated RFK intensely.
David Gilbert and Sirhan Sirhan are why we need the death penalty for people who murder for political reasons. Even John Hinkley, Jr. is no longer confined to a psychiatric facility.
Sirhan Shiran was originally sentenced to death. Then his sentence was commuted to life in prison without the possibility of parole when California’s death penalty was abolished as “cruel and unusual punishment”. Now that sentence is thought to be “unfair”. He should have been executed, period.
Did not know the Kennedy s were libertarians.
Sirhan not the real killer? Of course. IT was the "second gunman". Good grief, are the Kennedy's the dumbest family ever? Of course, being a kennedy RFK jr. had to have a substance abuse problem was convicted of Heroin possession.
Isn't Sirhan's conviction an open and shut case? wasn't the killing done in a crowd full of witnesses? Incredible.
One of MLK's sons came to believe James Earl Ray didn't kill his father. There must be some kind of madness that goes along with this. In neither case was there any doubt who pulled the trigger.
How do justify saying that 50+ years is enough punishment, given the unquantifiable damage he wrought? RFK doesn't get to wake up. Shouldn't 50+ years being dead be enough?
Sirhan is a good example why we need to death penalty. He should have died 53 years ago. BTW, most people who murder and are put away for "Life" get out in less than 20 years.
Hopefully the terms of his parole will allow him to tour (or at least appear on the LA stage) with the Rolling Stones. Finally, their lyrics will come literally true when he shouts out:
Who killed the Kennedys?
When after all
It was you and me
Sympathy for the Devil indeed.
Robert F Kennedy Jr is an idiot.
Politically, he's playing for the turn-the-other-cheek crowd, and the Muslim sympathizers.
Using his father's blood to advance his political career. He has no shame.
Robert F Kennedy is not available for comment. Keep Sirhan Sirhan locked up. Life in prison means life in prison.
Sirhan Sirhan's crime went far beyond murder. Sirhan Sirhan took away the votes of a couple of hundred million US citizens and changed the course of history. For that alone he should be executed. He shouldn't have lived to see the fruits of his evil.
He’ll be a burden on society no matter where he lives out his days.
'This book is chock-full of convincing evidence that RFK and Jackie had a sexual affair after the JFK assassination.'
I will never understand the appeal of Jackie...she seemed like an extraordinarily dim bulb.
She was OK looking I guess, if you like eyes that are too far apart to go along with a vacant stare.
Maybe she was fun in the sack. But even if true, it didn't keep JFK from his horn-dog ways. Talk about #metoo.
After age 40 very few are still dangerous. The large exception are the violent sexual offenders.
Well, it's not as if having one more crazy person on the street is going to make a difference in California. That said, life without possibility of parole was an appropriate sentence and it should be fulfilled.
The first rule of civilization is mercy. Who or whatever Mr. Sirhan was in 1968, that has melted away into history. Robert Kennedy came to believe in mercy backed by common decency. He said as much in speeches in his last years. As young man in the 1950's working with Sen. McCarthy Kennedy was often rude and aggressive. Parole Mr. Sirhan and allow him quiet merciful last days.
At the rate this year is going, Sirhan Sirhan will be released and become president of Afghanistan.
This wasn't an ordinary murder. It changed history and for the worse. That should be a factor so aggravating as to be beyond redemption. We're okay with putting ninety year old ex concentration camp guards behind bars. Why not Sirhan?...The Kennedy family have a lot of long held grudges. I'm surprised that they don't hold one against Sirhan.
"The first rule of civilization is mercy."
Where did you get that? A fortune cookie? Justice is the first rule of Civilization.
Sorry, the first rule of civilization is not mercy, it is justice. And justice demanded that Sirhan Sirhan be executed. If we can't have that, we need the next best thing: that he die in jail.
To amplify Diogenes of Sinope's 5:38 comment, someone who murders a cab driver ruins the lives of dozens of close relatives and friends, and damages the lives of hundreds of distant relatives, acquaintances, and fellow employees (e.g. every murder of a cabbie damages the mental health of all the other cabbies in town). Murdering a national political candidate (or leader or a national movement like Martin Luther King, Jr.) does all that, but also deprives hundreds of millions of people of a political choice. It changes history, usually for the worse. (And one example of ruining the lives of close relatives is turning the victim's son into the kind of idiot who denies the simple truth of who killed his father.) Political assassination is worse than an ordinary murder by several orders of magnitude.
He'll be out just in time to celebrate 9/11 with his homeys.
That said, life without possibility of parole was an appropriate sentence and it should be fulfilled.
Tomcc is making an important point. If you’re on a jury and are choosing between a sentence of life without parole and execution, will you be influenced by the eventual release of even such a heinous murderer as Sirhan Sirhan to vote for execution?
cassandra lite, I think it's the banality that is hard to accept. Some children don't want to believe that their father was killed by a loser for a stupid reason. It's more empowering to cling to an idea that your father was so important that he was done in by a shadowy conspiracy that wanted to stop him from improving the world.
Cuban Bob and Big Mike are right.
Brinks murderer David Gilbert didn’t just participate in that slaughter of two police and a security guard; he participated in other robberies where police or guards were murdered; his fingerprints were found all over the bomb-making factory where the bombs were assembled that killed one San Francisco Sgt. and maimed several other police. He participated in other bombings and planned more. As historian Harvey Klehr observed, the only reason Gilbert, Ayers and Dohrn aren’t mass murderers is because they sucked at making bombs.
The idea that Gilbert is rehabilitated is bullshit. He’s spent decades writing hateful screeds, essays, and poems about how happy he was to attack Amerikka. His “activism for AIDS patients” is even more bullshit. The programs did nothing but convince patients their disease was caused by the evil government. He sat in prison vacuuming up PEN Foundation awards and prizes from university presidents for his hate America screeds: what he didn’t do was tutor inmates in the readily available GED programs. And he never took responsibility for his crimes. It’s easy to find the New York State Parole Board website. On the first page there is a form for supporting or opposing the release of a certain prisoner. Fill it out today: Cuomo is broke and needs to get Gilbert out so he can get a cushy payback from the wealthy Stalinists and ex-presidents who run the prestige foundations today.
"On the larger issue, political assassinations (and I include assassinations of national figures such as Rev. Martin L. King Jr. -- about whom Bobby Kennedy spoke so eloquently on the bed of a pickup truck in Indianapolis the night of King's murder..."
Did he eloquently bring up the fact that he wire tapped MLK?
One of the reasons many of us support the death penalty, is that life in prison doesn't really mean life in prison.
And the Democrats do love them some murderers and Islamic terrorists. This guy checks both boxes. So of course they love him.
On a whim I looked up Roosevelt (“Rosey”) Grier to see when he passed away. To my surprise he’s still alive, though pushing 90.
RFK, Jr might want to talk with Grier. He was a personal friend of Bobby Kennedy and, as a former All-Pro football player who stood 6’5” and weighed 284 lbs, he and Olympic gold medalist Rafer Johnson were bodyguarding Ethyl the night of Bobby Kennedy’s assassination. When they heard shots the two men ran forward where several men, including sports author George Plimpton, were wrestling with Sirhan Sirhan. Grier was the man who wrestled the hot gun away from Sirhan, slammed him onto a table, and then protected him from angry people who were ready to tear the scrawny Palestinian limb from limb. Grier knows whose hand was holding the gun that killed Bobby Kennedy.
Cuban Bob and Big Mike are right.
Thank you, Tina!
At first I thought it might be Kennedy's Catholic upbringing - forgiveness, turn the other cheek - but that doesn't explain his: 'he didn't do it.'
At an earlier parole hearing, Sirhan Sirhan claimed that if Robert Kennedy were still alive, he would want Sirhan released.
That's probably, which makes it even more delicious.
The reality is the Kennedys can't oppose Sirhan's release. Not in their milieu. Not these days.
But, yeah, they're probably too enervated as a family to take a principled stand on anything.
“a sentencing review unit to revisit the cases of about 20,000 prisoners for possible resentencing, analyzing both the fairness of long sentences and the cost savings for releasing low-risk or older inmates.... “
Reasonable process for examination…. FOR THE PEOPLE.
Not for I singular person in a singular jurisdiction. It is not something for a rampaging DA to diddle with
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