California's governor on Thursday rejected releasing Robert F. Kennedy assassin Sirhan Sirhan from prison more than a half-century after the 1968 slaying that the governor called one of America's "most notorious crimes."Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has cited RFK as his political hero, rejected a recommendation from a two-person panel of parole commissioners. Newsom said Sirhan even at age 77 poses an unreasonable threat to public safety...He said Sirhan still lacks insight, refuses to accept responsibility and has failed to disclaim violence committed in his name."These gaps in Mr. Sirhan's insight have a close nexus to his current risk of inciting further political violence," Newsom wrote...Parole commissioners found Sirhan suitable for release "because of his impressive extensive record of rehabilitation over the last half-century," Berry said. "Since the mid-1980's Mr. Sirhan has consistently been found by prison psychologists and psychiatrists to not pose an unreasonable risk of danger to the public."During his parole hearing, the white-haired Sirhan called Kennedy "the hope of the world." But he stopped short of taking full responsibility for a shooting he said he doesn't recall because he was drunk."It pains me ... the knowledge for such a horrible deed, if I did in fact do that," Sirhan said...The decision had a personal element for Newsom, a fellow Democrat, who displays RFK photos in his official and home offices. One of them is of Kennedy with Newsom's late father.
More at NPR.
Addendum: Relevant brief video re LAPD persuading a witness to change her testimony. (hat tip to reader Stan B).
Newsom is a fairly principled politician--with all the attendant paradox in that statement. But, I think he's going to run for president at some point and I don't think he wants releasing Sirhan around his neck when he does. Just a wild guess.
ReplyDeleteAfter all these years, the guy's official position is "If I did it". What a coincidence, that's also the name O.J. Simpson's book. At least one of those two murderers is where he belongs.
ReplyDeleteIn 1958 one of my classmates and both his parents were murdered by his older brother. The brother was sentenced to three concurrent life sentences in 1960 and paroled in 1974. Lucky he didn’t kill a politician.
ReplyDeleteStill say there was a damn good chance the guy was an Mk-Ultra Manchurian Candidate. Yeah, I know how that sounds in our current age of conspiracy. This brow beating went on for hours:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtQpMKjnmws
As for the existence of Mk-Ultra (which President Clinton officially 'apologized' for):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_MKUltra
Interesting. I had not seen that video before. I've boosted it up to the body of the post.
DeleteUnfortunately, my link to the unedited 'interview' (ie- interrogation) is no longer active. It's fascinating (to say the least) to hear the interrogator browbeat her with Catholic/Hispanic guilt as she descends from unbridled enthusiasm, to impassioned pleading, and finally to monotone despondency when she finally realizes that she isn't going anywhere until she tows the official line. In the end, you're (almost) as exhausted as her.
ReplyDeleteThere are more lingering, legitimate questions concerning the RFK assassination, than JFK's- and the MLK family has long acknowledged that James Earl Ray was a patsy.
ReplyDelete