A California parole board on Friday, August 27, voted to release from prison Sirhan Sirhan, the man convicted of shooting dead Robert F. Kennedy in a 1968 assassination that rocked the United States.
This comes after RFK’s two sons went against several of their siblings’ wishes and said they supported releasing him and prosecutors declined to argue he should be kept behind bars, AP News reports.
Douglas Kennedy was a toddler when his father was gunned down in 1968. He told a two-person board panel that he was moved to tears by Sirhan’s remorse and that the 77-year-old should be released if he’s not a threat to others.
Born March 19, 1944, Sirhan is a Palestinian militant who was found guilty of assassinating the New York Senator and brother of slain president John F Kennedy in a Los Angeles hotel on June 5, 1968.
Robert F. Kennedy was campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination to follow in the family footsteps when he was gunned down.
His murder came just months after the killing of Black civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr, and as a divided America was deep in an unpopular war in Vietnam.
Sirhan was granted the recommendation at his 16th appearance before the parole board. However, this doesn’t mean that he will automatically be released as the decision is subject to approval by the full board and also the California governor.
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