One of Robert F. Kennedy‘s sons said on Sunday that he supports his father’s killer being paroled because “all human beings are worthy of compassion and love.”
Sirhan Sirhan was recommended for parole on Friday 53 years after the assassination; the final decision rests with the governor.
“I’m overwhelmed just by being able to view Mr. Sirhan face to face,” RFK’s son, Douglas Kennedy, told the two-person parole board. “I’ve lived my life both in fear of him and his name in one way or another. And I am grateful today to see him as a human being worthy of compassion and love.”
Kennedy, a Fox News correspondent himself, reiterated that position in an interview with Fox News correspondent Christina Coleman.
“I had lived my life in avoiding his name in the newspaper, avoiding his image, and to sit across from him on a video screen — where he can see my face and I can see his face — allowed me to see him as a human being, and all human beings are worthy of compassion and love, and I believe he is as well,” he said.
Kennedy went on to note that he does not think prison “should be used as a punishment.”
“I believe that all prisoners who are no longer a threat to themselves or others should be released from prison,” he said. “I do not believe prison should be
Sirhan has maintained he did not remember killing the New York senator and had been drinking alcohol beforehand. The Associated Press reported that if granted parole, 77-year-old Sirhan would have to live in a transitional home for six months, enroll in an alcohol abuse program, and get therapy.
“Sen. Kennedy was the hope of the world,” said Sirhan during the virtual hearing, “and I harmed all of them and it pains me to experience that, the knowledge for such a horrible deed, if I did in fact do that.”
Kennedy is one of the few in his family who supports Sirhan’s parole.
His brother Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is one of them, writing in a letter to the parole board that he had previously met Sirhan, “who wept, clinching my hands, and asked for forgiveness.”
“While nobody can speak definitively on behalf of my father, I firmly believe that based on his own consuming commitment to fairness and justice, that he would strongly encourage this board to release Mr. Sirhan because of Sirhan’s impressive record of rehabilitation,” he wrote.
However, six of RFK’s other nine children voiced their opposition to Sirhan’s parole in a statement late Friday. The statement was signed by Joseph P. Kennedy II, Courtney Kennedy, Kerry Kennedy, Christopher G. Kennedy
“Our father’s death impacted our family in ways that can never adequately be articulated and today’s decision by a two-member parole board has inflicted enormous additional pain,” they wrote. “But beyond just us, six of Robert Kennedy’s nine surviving children, Sirhan Sirhan committed a crime against our nation and its people. He took our father from our family and he took him from America.”
“We are in disbelief that this man would be recommended for release,” they added, noting they urge the board and Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA)to reverse the recommendation. “It is a recommendation we intend to challenge every step of the way, and we hope that those who also hold the memory of our father in their hearts will stand with us.”
Asked about the differences of opinion in his family, Douglas Kennedy said he felt compassion for them and understood why they disagreed.
“I come from a very large family,” he told Coleman. “I grew up with six older brothers. I have four sisters. We have different opinions on a lot of things. I have a lot of compassion for my siblings and their stance.”
“This is a traumatic and awful experience to not only grow up without a father, but also to watch the images of our father being killed over and over again on television,” he
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