Sirhan Sirhan up for Parole

03/04/11

Kennedy made a speech to his supporters and then took a shortcut through the kitchen. It was in the kitchen that Sirhan Sirhan, a Palestinian Christian, opened fire, hitting Kennedy three times. 26 hours later, Senator Robert Kennedy was dead.


I mention this today because Sirhan Sirhan is up for parole. Originally sentenced to death after a long and convoluted trial, his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment after the California Supreme Court held that the state’s death penalty constituted cruel and unusual punishment in People v Anderson in 1972. This will be his thirteenth parole hearing in the 42 years he has been behind bars, and his first in nine years. Testifying on his behalf is Daniel Brown, an associate clinical professor in psychology at Harvard Medical School. Brown interviewed Sirhan for 60 hours over a 3 year period and will submit a report to the parole board. According to his lawyer, the report is confidential, but ''...Sirhan does not have any violent tendency that should be regarded as a threat to the community.''

Sirhan is represented by William F. Pepper, who first gained notoriety by attempting to prove that James Earl Ray was not Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassin. According to Pepper, Ray was framed by a cabal including the CIA, the FBI, and the Memphis police. In defending Sirhan, Pepper claims that Sirhan does not remember shooting Kennedy, despite his admission of the crime in open court, and is implying that there was another shooter. He’s also advanced the popular conspiracy theory that Sirhan was ''hypno-programmed'', something that the parole board will not likely consider.

Only 10% of California’s lifers ever receive parole, and Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney David Dahle is opposing parole at the hearing. In the unlikely event that Sirhan, who came to the US from Jordan, does obtain his release he would most likely be turned over to the INS for deportation.

Update

After a four hour hearing in which Sirhan spoke more freely than he has since his trial, the board rejected his parole application. Sirhan expressed regret and remorse, but continued to insist that he has no memory of the events. The board concluded that he does not understand the severity of the crime and has not expressed sufficient remorse, while acknowledging reports from Brown and a prison psychologist that said he has a low risk of violent behavior in the future. Sirhan will next be eligible for parole in 2016.