Sirhan Sirhan, the Palestinian extremist who murdered Robert Kennedy, was again denied parole in California:
A CALIFORNIA parole board has refused to release Sirhan Sirhan, who killed US presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy in 1968, saying the assassin remained a danger to society.
Sirhan opted not to attend today's parole board hearing and did not send anyone to represent him, Tip Kindel of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said.
"Essentially, the board found he continues to be a danger to public safety and is not suitable to parole," Mr Kindel said.
"He was given two opportunities by the panel to show up, and declined."
The board concluded Sirhan killed Kennedy in a "cold, calculated and callous manner" with disregard for the senator and those with him, Mr Kindel said. Psychiatric exam results presented to the board indicated Sirhan "hates Americans and, if released, wants to be involved in Middle East politics". [Tip to Tim Blair]
One of my favorite examples of Chutzpah was Sirhan's statement to the parole board in 1982:
"If Robert Kennedy were alive today, he would not countenance singling me out for this kind of treatment."
I suppose that it is just Sirhan's bad luck that somebody killed Robert Kennedy.
This is a real-world example of the classic plea for mercy: "A boy is on trial for murdering his parents, and he begs of the judge leniency because he is an orphan."
Why should hatred of Americans (or citizens of any other country) or a desire to be involved in politics, be a consideration for parole?
tireless work as a legislator, Edward Kennedy would have brought comfort to her in her old age."
Amazing what people say when Kennedys are involved.
Yes, a classic example of chutzpah, presumably fictional with no basis in fact. Or not. Dateline, Lodi, Calif., Wed., March 15, 2006: Man Sues Self. Man bites dog? Yes, but not particularly surprising. h/t M/P
"Sarcastic." Right.
Leftist boob gets caught saying something stupid, raises "I was just kidding" defense. Don't fall for it.
Aren't you quoting Mick Jagger?
I, of course, was saying that "This [claim of Sirhan's] is a real-world example of the classic plea for mercy: . . .," which it is.
I was not saying that the classic orphan's plea for mercy was a real-world example of itself: the classic orphan's plea for mercy.
Sorry if the intended antecedent of my pronoun "This" confused anyone.
Jim
As I understand it, several years ago, Calfornia switched from an indeterminate sentencing scheme to a determinate sentencing scheme. He was sentenced under the old scheme. A straight "life" term back then meant 7 years, after which you served at the pleasure of the parole board. In other words, you were eligible to get out after 7 years but the parole board could keep you in as long as they liked. It's also possible (I don't know) that Sirhan Sirhan originally got the death penalty. When the Supreme Court temporarily declared the death penalty unconstitutional, everyone got converted to life terms, instead. I think California inmates all got converted to straight life terms so many of them went from facing execution to being paroled. Even Charles Manson comes up for parole regularly. In fact, I believe there are some rather amazing cases where people had their death sentences commuted, got out on parole and went on to live exemplary lives.
Parole boards in California are pretty vestigial now but once upon a time, they were where all the action was. People would get absurd sentances like "2-10 years" and then it was up to the parole boards to, in effect, decide their actual sentences.
Sirhan was convicted and sentenced to death, but the sentence was commuted to life in prison in 1972 after the California Supreme Court in its People v. Anderson decision resulted in the invalidation of all pending death sentences imposed in California prior to 1972.
The potential conflict here was because Maria Shriver (Schwarzenegger's wife for those who don't know) is Bobby Kennedy's niece. This really wasn't much of a story because there's no way Sirhan's ever leaving prison alive.
She was convicted in the La Bianca murders. Not that it makes much difference, but the claim has been she essentially added knife wounds to two dead people.
Of course, if she had had Patty Hearst's lawyers, she would never have been convicted in the first place.
The lawyers for her abductors actually did a better job for their clients in what for them was an almost impossible case.
IIRC, one thing driving the addition of life without parole to the menu was an attempt to make death sentence deliberations more fair. If jurors were aware that a life sentence really wasn't a life sentence, they would be likely to consider not only what the defendant deserved for the murder of which he was convicted, but also what other murders he might commit if he was ever released. The death sentence might not work as a deterrent, but when it's actually carried out it certainly prevents recidivism...
Hearst's 1976 sentence (an outcome of the poor defense of which you speak) was commuted by President Carter in 1979, and later she was pardoned by President Clinton just before he left office in 2001.
Yes some have been parolled and went on to live exemplary lifes. Some didn't. Robert Lee Massie murdered a woman during a burglary in 1965. He was sentenced to death, but California dithered about and he was still alive in 1972 when death sentences(arbitrary and capricious you know) were changed to life w/ possibility of parole. Parolled in 1978
he killled a liquor store owner in an armed robbery and again was sentenced to death. He was executed a few years back, but only because he refused further appeals. Otherwise he would still be being housed and fed by California taxpayers.