Panel Denies Sirhan Parole
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SACRAMENTO — Sirhan Sirhan, serving a life prison term for assassinating U.S. Sen. Robert Kennedy in 1968, was denied parole Thursday for the 11th time for refusing to take responsibility for the shooting.
Denise Schmidt, a spokeswoman for the state’s Board of Prison Terms, said a three-member panel at Corcoran State Prison also cited Sirhan’s poor psychiatric evaluations as a reason for the denial. Sirhan, 57, did not attend the hourlong hearing.
“He was given a two-year denial,” Schmidt said. “He continues to deny responsibility for the crime.”
Sirhan’s lawyer could not be reached for comment
But the Palestinian immigrant--who was wrestled to the ground with a gun in his hand after Kennedy was shot just minutes after winning the California presidential primary--has long maintained his innocence.
He asked a federal judge last May to overturn his conviction, saying authorities destroyed or hid evidence that could exonerate him.
Sirhan, who was originally sentenced to death, had already lost a similar appeal to the California Supreme Court.
His death sentence was commuted to life in prison in 1972 after the California State Supreme Court declared the death penalty unconstitutional.
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