Sirhan Sirhan Shows “Lack Of Control,” Denied Parole

Pleasant Valley Prison – When the parole board commissioner mentioned that the Kennedy family had endured a tragedy similar to the murder of Robert F. Kennedy, Sirhan Sirhan interrupted him.

He blurted out in the hearing room, “That's not my responsibiilty,” in regard to the murder of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas in 1963, five years previous to June 5, 1968, when he allegedly gunned down his brother in a hotel kitchen in Los Angeles only minutes after he had claimed victory in the California Presidential Primary.

Numerous witnesses said they watched him empty an 8-shot .22 caliber revolver he pointed at the presidential candidate after confronting him face to face as he walked through the kitchen area of the Ambassador Hotel.

The parole commissioner said Mr. Sirhan's act of interrupting him only shows that he has not the proper control of himself necessary to allow his release on parole for the killing that occurred 43 years ago, something he has denied being able to remember since the day it happened.

He and others claim he was brainwashed, turned into a “Manchurian candidate” who was pre-programmed to kill the New York Senator through a combination of hypnosis and autosuggestion.

The parole board commissioners are not allowed to consider any such allegations. Their only legal authority is to determine if he would be likely to do something similar again in the future, thereby presenting a danger to himself or society.

He may apply for parole again in five years, according to a statement issued during the hearing.

To obtain his release, he would be required to show evidence that he has attended self-help programs and sought the proper therapy to change his ways.

Mr. Sirhan's attorney William Pepper claims he is innocent of killing Senator Kennedy. "We have to establish his frame of mind," he has said repeatedly in televised interviews.

Mr. Sirhan faces 5 other counts of attempted murder stemming from the 1968 shooting of Mr. Kennedy in which bystanders were injured by stray bullets.