Sirhan Sirhan to face parole board for 1968 slaying of Robert F. Kennedy with no prosecutors present for first time

Los Angeles County prosecutors volition beryllium absent for the archetypal clip from a parole hearing, scheduled Friday, for Sirhan Bushara Sirhan — the antheral convicted of assassinating U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy astatine the Ambassador Hotel successful Los Angeles successful 1968.

That’s per orders from District Attorney George Gascón, who connected his archetypal time successful bureau successful December 2020 announced sweeping transgression justness reforms. Among them was a alteration to long-standing D.A.’s bureau argumentation that routinely sent prosecutors to parole hearings to reason against releasing inmates early.

Now, prosecutors are mostly barred from attending those hearings, leaving the state’s parole committee to measurement lone the accusation they person connected the inmate.

In Sirhan’s hearing, the D.A.’s bureau is not taking a stance either for oregon against his release.

“One mode oregon another, prosecutors volition not beryllium getting progressive successful this case,” said Alex Bastian, a peculiar advisor to Gascón.

In abstracted statement, Bastian said the D.A.’s bureau is “focused connected ensuring that victims are provided trauma informed services.”

“The relation of a authoritative and their entree to accusation ends astatine sentencing,” helium said. “The parole committee nevertheless has each the pertinent facts and evaluations astatine their disposal, including however idiosyncratic has conducted themselves implicit the past fewer decades successful prison.”

This volition beryllium the 16th proceeding earlier the parole committee for Sirhan, who is present 77. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the 8:30 a.m. proceeding astatine Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility successful San Diego volition beryllium conducted by video.

Sirhan was convicted of fatally shooting Kennedy — a legislator from New York and U.S. lawyer wide for his member President John Kennedy’s administration, arsenic good an icon successful the Civil Rights question — soon aft a code helium gave successful the ballroom of the Ambassador Hotel pursuing his triumph successful the California superior for the Democratic information for president connected June 5, 1968.

Sirhan besides changeable and wounded 5 others, firing wildly arsenic helium was tackled to the ground. He was sentenced to beingness successful situation successful 1969. Changes successful California instrumentality successful 1975 resulted successful Sirhan becoming eligible for parole.

An lawyer representing members of the Kennedy household did not instrumentality a petition for remark Thursday astir Sirhan’s parole proceeding and the lack of prosecutors.

Robert F. Kennedy is survived by his wife, Ethel, and their 9 children. His decease has been the taxable of speculative theories, conscionable similar his brother’s 1963 assassination.

His son, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., a salient anti-vaccination proponent who has shared misinformation astir vaccines, joined supporters of Sirhan successful 2018 successful questioning whether helium was his father’s killer.

Another unfortunate of the shooting, Paul Schrade, submitted a missive of enactment for Sirhan to the committee for Friday’s hearing. He antecedently appeared astatine the astir caller parole proceeding for Sirhan successful February advocating for his release. He believes that determination was a 2nd shooter who was ne'er identified.

Sirhan was a Palestinian exile from Israel who fled with this household to the U.S. successful 1956. The household yet settled successful the Pasadena area.

He openly admitted to the sidesplitting during his 1969 trial. He has cited Robert Kennedy’s enactment of Israel during conflicts successful the Middle East and with Palestinians arsenic his motive for the assassination.

In erstwhile parole hearings, helium has expressed remorse for the murder.

“I person feelings of shame and inward guilt,” helium said successful a 1989 parole hearing. “It is truly a haunting acquisition and I honestly consciousness the symptom that (the Kennedy) household whitethorn person gone through.”

Angela Berry, an lawyer with offices successful Encino, took implicit representing Sirhan past twelvemonth erstwhile she received a telephone from his brother, Munir Sirhan, who inactive lives successful their family’s Pasadena home.

“I thought it was a crank call,” Berry said successful an email. “The adjacent time I got a telephone from an writer person of Munir’s, urging maine to telephone Munir back. I was intrigued to larn that RFK Jr. and unfortunate Paul Schrade supported Sirhan’s release, truthful I called RFK Jr. and aft talking with him, I decided to instrumentality the lawsuit connected pro bono.”

In her pre-hearing briefing, Berry does not contention Sirhan’s guilt. Rather, she cites his presumption arsenic a youthful offender nether California law: that his property astatine the clip of the crime, 24, would person been a mitigating origin that a justice could person considered successful sentencing him. She besides notes astatine magnitude Sirhan’s past of trauma from witnessing unit successful the Middle East during his younker and astatine the hands of an abusive father.

Berry argues Sirhan, astatine his age, is improbable to re-offend and has a cleanable disciplinary record.

“His incarceration implicit the past 53 years has caused him to not lone mature chronologically, but emotionally and spiritually,” Berry wrote. “(He) is rehabilitated.”

Berry said if released, Sirhan would spell unrecorded with his member successful Pasadena.

“He and Munir conscionable privation to unrecorded retired their remaining years obscurely and privately,” Berry wrote.

Whether the lack of prosecutors means Sirhan stands a amended accidental of leaving situation is not clear, but opponents of Gascón’s accidental his reforms enactment nationalist information astatine risk.

Proponents of a callback run against Gascón, launched wrong months of his inauguration, person said his scrapping of  the D.A.’s bureau accepted relation successful parole hearings was a betrayal of victims’ families, immoderate who person expressed outrage astatine the change.

In a missive this period to California Attorney General Rob Bonta, erstwhile L.A. County D.A. Steve Cooley, 10 victims’ rights attorneys and a erstwhile LAPD detective excoriated Gascón. Cooley, who served arsenic D.A. from 2000 to 2012, sent prosecutors to 4 of Sirhan’s parole hearings.

“Gascon’s argumentation denies practice of the People of the State of California,” Cooley and the others wrote successful their letter. “Importantly, victims (usually adjacent of kin of murdered victims oregon rape victims) are near to fend for themselves.”