Los Angeles: The assassin who killed US
presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy in 1968 faced a
parole board, his 14th such hearing since he was convicted,
officials said.
Sirhan Sirhan was initially sentenced to death, but
the sentence was changed in 1972 to life in prison after the
death penalty as it existed at the time was ruled
unconstitutional by the California Supreme Court.
His last parole hearing was in 2006, when he opted not
to attend and did not send anyone to represent him. This time
he was represented by lawyer Bill Pepper, the lawyer's office
said, yesterday.
The Palestinian immigrant shot Kennedy after he won
the California presidential primary. Sirhan reportedly killed
the New York senator because he backed selling warplanes to
Israel.
The California Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitations said an announcement would be made after the
parole hearing, held at the Pleasant Valley prison in
Coalinga, half way between Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Robert Kennedy's brother, president John F. Kennedy,
was assassinated in 1963.
PTI
First Published: Thursday, March 03, 2011, 12:12