Sirhan Sirhan, who was convicted for the 1968 assassination of New York Senator Robert F. Kennedy, the brother of former US president John F. Kennedy, will seek parole for the 16th time, the Associated Press reported.
Sirhan, a Palestinian born in Jerusalem who opposed Kennedy's support for Israel, has served 53 years of a life sentence after shooting the senator and then-presidential candidate at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles as he celebrated his victory in the 1968 California Democratic primary.
Sirhan has said he has no memory of committing the murder, but he can remember details about what he did prior, including going to a shooting range, looking for a party at the hotel, and returning to the hotel because he was too inebriated to drive. He also recalls drinking coffee in a pantry at the hotel with a woman he was attracted to just before the shooting.
Sirhan was found at the scene with a gun and apprehended, according to NBC News.
At his last hearing in 2016, Sirhan was denied parole because commissioners said he did not show adequate remorse. He said that while he could sympathize with any victim of a crime, he could not take responsibility for Kennedy's murder.
Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gáscon decided not to interfere in Sirhan's parole board hearing. “The role of a prosecutor and their access to information ends at sentencing,” Gáscon's special advisor Alex Bastian told The Washington Post.
Sirhan's attorney, Angela Berry, plans to talk to the parole board about his good behavior in prison. She emphasized that he should be judged on the degree to which he has been rehabilitated rather than the gravity of his crime, saying "rehabilitation is a more relevant indicator of whether or not a person is still a risk to society,” according to AP.