Sirhan Denied Parole; Crime’s ‘Enormity’ Cited

SOLEDAD, Calif. — Sirhan Sirhan lost another bid for freedom Thursday after a state parole board panel heard his assassination of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy described by a prosecutor as “an enormous crime against the American people.”

In announcing the decision not to grant Sirhan a parole date, panel Chairman Albert M. Leddy described the June 5, 1968, assassination as “an act against our democratic society and the hopes of millions who had hoped to elect Kennedy President.”

Testifying on his own behalf, Sirhan, who is serving a life term, pleaded with the board not to regard the murder as a political crime and to “disregard the identity of the victim.

“Without consideration of the identity of the victim, I am eminently qualified for parole . . . and I honestly and personally feel I am suitable for a release date,” he said.

But the three-member panel of the state Board of Prison Terms clearly gave considerable weight to Los Angeles County Deputy Dist. Atty. Larry Trapp’s statement, which said the parole should be denied “because of the enormity of the crime.

“Its effect went far beyond the individual and his family. It was an enormous crime against the American people,” said Trapp.

Sirhan declined to be interviewed after the hearing. His attorney, Luke McKissack, described him as “obviously disappointed but calm.”

The hearing was the first for Sirhan since last June when his treatment created a storm of controversy. In that hearing, held before a parole panel composed of three other members, a microphone was left open, revealing that the panel had conducted its hearing without discussing reasons for denying Sirhan’s parole. Instead, members of the panel almost immediately voted for denial and started listing reasons supporting that decision.

Six months later, the Board of Prison Terms voted 8 to 0 to grant Sirhan a new hearing. David Brown, a parole board attorney, said the new hearing was not granted because the panel failed to deliberate. Rather, he said, it was granted because the panel did not give any reasons for setting Sirhan’s next hearing date two years from that time. Usual procedures provide for rehearings every year.

The panel that conducted Thursday’s hearing decided Sirhan’s next hearing should be held within one year.

The panel announced its decision after a 2-hour, 10-minute public session and 2 1/2 hours of private deliberations at the men’s prison here, where the 42-year-old Sirhan is serving his term.

As the previous panel had decided, the panel that convened Thursday also recommended that Sirhan undergo an “intensive” psychiatric evaluation.

But, in a move designed to assure his safety, the panel directed that he be sent to the California Medical Facility at Vacaville instead of to the “mainline” prison at California Men’s Colony in San Luis Obispo, where intensive psychiatric evaluations are also performed.

An unidentified parole member was overheard in June saying over the open microphone, “We’ll send his ass down there (the California Men’s Colony) and keep him there as long as possible.”

McKissack complained Thursday that it is difficult to get parole board members to look at the Sirhan of today.

He said both the most recent staff evaluation and psychiatric reports on Sirhan show him to be “an exemplary candidate for parole.”

A staff evaluation described Sirhan as a “model prisoner,” and said he has received “exceptional” ratings as a prison food line server.

Prison staff psychiatrist Philip S. Hicks, who interviewed Sirhan recently, said: “Assassination is essentially his only criminal offense (and) is still seen as the product of political fanaticism rather than psychiatric violence.”

Sirhan “appears to be generally rehabilitated since incarceration,” Hicks added.