Posted on 03/14/2006 12:16:08 PM PST by Borges
Robert F. Kennedy's assassin, Sirhan Sirhan, comes up for parole again this week in a potential conflict for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is married to RFK's niece.
Sirhan shot Kennedy to death at a Los Angeles hotel in 1968, minutes after the New York senator claimed victory in the California presidential primary. Sirhan received a death sentence, which was commuted to life in prison in 1972 when the California Supreme Court declared the death penalty unconstitutional.
The assassin's parole hearing at Corcoran State Prison on Wednesday _ the 13th since his conviction and the first since Schwarzenegger's election in 2003 _ will be heard by two board members, one of whom was appointed by Schwarzenegger.
If the board recommends his release _ and that is unlikely, experts say _ the decision of whether to free Sirhan will fall to Schwarzenegger, setting up an unusual dilemma.
"Judges can recuse themselves, but this is not the kind of decision a governor can delegate," said Jack Pitney, a government professor at Claremont McKenna College.
The governor's press office declined to comment, saying it is highly unlikely the decision would fall to Schwarzenegger.
Sirhan's longtime lawyer died last year, and he has not chosen a new attorney.
Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney David Dahle, who will argue the state's case before the parole board, said there is little chance the decision would fall to the Republican governor. He conceded there is at least the appearance of a conflict.
"Obviously there's an issue. He's married to the Kennedy family," he said. "But he is not a member of the immediate family."
Schwarzenegger's wife is TV journalist Maria Shriver. Her mother, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, was a sister of RFK and President Kennedy.
Schwarzenegger and Shriver are occasional visitors to the Massachusetts home of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, RFK's younger brother. As recently as last year, the California governor participated in a benefit for the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial.
Let him out, have a hunch that justice would be done.
A Kennedy can kill a person and be free the rest of his life. But kill a Kennedy and you spend the rest of your life in prison. Justice aint blind, its stupid!
God blessed America in both cases.
John Hinckley gets passes to go visit his parents - oh that's right he shot at a republican - never mind.
At one of his hearings, Sirhan told the parole board that he had been reading a lot of RFK's readings and that he believed that if RFK was alive, he'd want him released.
Some comedian did a joke a few days later: "Talk about bad luck: the one guy who would have wanted him released and he killed him."
Wasn't he more along the lines of JFK then Ted?
in a liberal ideal world he would be let go on a work release program at an oldsmobile dealer in hyannis.
I'm not sure exactly what you mean,but if you're wondering where RFK stood on the political spectrum compared to his brothers,RFK was very much to to the left of JFK when he died...as Teddy is today.
If RFK were alive today,he'd be at least as far to the left as is Teddy.If JFK were alive today,he'd be a Republican.
Sometimes I wonder if Sirhan didn't do this country a favor by taking out that worthless opportunist Marxist,because he *would* have won (easily) in '68 if he had lived.
I don't know the guy's prison record, but I assume he'd have been paroled years ago if he'd killed a liquor store owner.
Can someone remind me what Sirhan's motive was?
The "cover story" is that he acted alone and killed RFK because of RFK's support of Israel, but I don't know any serious person who believes that. The RFK
assassination makes the JFK one look like an open and shut case.
the guy who killed the first American in the jihad
RFK supported Israel in the 1967 war I believe.
like minds
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