California Gov. Gavin Newsom rejected a recommendation for Robert F. Kennedy‘s assassin, Sirhan Sirhan, 77, to be released from state prison Thursday.
Newsom, who has photos of Kennedy in his home and office, said he sided with the “overwhelming majority” of the Shriver and Kennedy family members in his decision to oppose Sirhan’s release.
“Mr. Sirhan’s assassination of Sen. Kennedy is among the most notorious crimes in American history,” Newsom said in a statement, obtained by Politico. “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.”
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Last year, a parole panel recommended Sirhan be released, citing his self-improvement and new laws, but the decision was ultimately up to Newsom. Fifteen previous requests to be paroled were denied.
Sirhan was convicted of assassinating the former U.S. attorney general and presidential candidate in 1968 at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles following his victory speech after winning the California Democratic presidential primary.
He was initially going to be executed for the assassination, but his sentence was commuted in 1972 to life in prison after California abolished the death penalty.
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Following the decision, Sirhan, 77, will remain in prison serving his life sentence. He will be scheduled for a new parole hearing “no later than” February 2023.
