Governor Gavin Newsom has denied parole to the man convicted of assassinating Sen. Robert F. Kennedy in Los Angeles in 1968.
In August, a two-person state parole panel recommended that Sirhan Sirhan, who's 77 years old, be paroled. Sirhan is serving his life prison sentence at the Donovan state prison Otay Mesa in San Diego County.
Gov. Newsom said in a statement that "after decades in prison, he has failed to address the deficiencies that led him to assassinate Senator Kennedy....and...lacks the insight that would prevent him from making the same types of dangerous decisions he made in the past.”
Sirhan Sirhan, who was convicted for assassinating Robert F. Kennedy in 1968, was wounded in a stabbing in 2019 at the Richard J. Donovan State Correctional Facility.
Sirhan was convicted in the shooting death of Kennedy during a presidential campaign rally in Los Angeles. He was immediately tackled by witnesses. Sirhan was convicted of first-degree murder in 1969 and initially sentenced to death. The sentenced was commuted to life in prison in 1972 when the California Supreme Court found that the death penalty constituted cruel and unusual punishment under the state constitution, according to the CDCR.
Sirhan has had 16 parole hearings since he was incarcerated. Sirhan will be scheduled for a new parole hearing no later than February 2023.
(Photo 10News)