Should Sirhan Sirhan be paroled?

[quixotecoyote]

Schadenfreude. Great word.

That aside, is there some reason he should be paroled?

Is it some matter of mercy versus justice?

More of the point of the prison system. If there's any point to releasing anyone on parole ever, what are the factors that make it appropriate or inappropriate here? The way a lot of people post, it's like we might as well just shoot people on conviction and save the farce.

 

[John Jones]

More of the point of the prison system. If there's any point to releasing anyone on parole ever, what are the factors that make it appropriate or inappropriate here? The way a lot of people post, it's like we might as well just shoot people on conviction and save the farce.

Depends on the crime.

Sirhan? Let him serve his sentence unless there is compelling evidence suggesting he was railroaded. Whether he claims to remember now is irrelevant. Whether other western countries count 10 years as a life sentence is irrelevant.

If he was improperly convicted, that's another matter.

 

[quixotecoyote]

Depends on the crime.

Sirhan? Let him serve his sentence unless there is compelling evidence suggesting he was railroaded. Whether he claims to remember now is irrelevant. Whether other western countries count 10 years as a life sentence is irrelevant.

If he was improperly convicted, that's another matter.

I would think an improper conviction would be a factor in a retrial, not in parole.

 

[geni]

Too bad for Sirhan that he didn't assassinate a politician in the UK or elsewhere in the world, innit?

Hey you are the one stuck paying for his incarceration.

Last person to attempt to kill a UK politician got a minimum 15 year term mind.

Last person to actualy kill a british politician got declared unfit to stand trial.

 

[John Jones]

Hey you are the one stuck paying for his incarceration.

Last person to attempt to kill a UK politician got a minimum 15 year term mind.

Last person to actualy kill a british politician got declared unfit to stand trial.

What's 'a minimum 15 year term mind'?

What happened to these assassins/would-be assassins after adjudication?

If you're thinking that we mistreat mentally ill would-be assassins, I refer you to John Hinkley, Jr.

Sirhan got life in prison for killing Robert F. Kennedy. Do you think that's an unfair sentence or something?

 

[John Jones]

Hey you are the one stuck paying for his incarceration.

Hey you are the one complaining about it!

 

[John Jones]

I would think an improper conviction would be a factor in a retrial, not in parole.

On that point we agree.

 

[The Central Scrutinizer]

Keeping people locked up is expensive. 40 years meets many definitions of justice.

But not all. I say if he's still alive in 20 years, let him out then. 60 years sounds fair.

 

[John Jones]

That never happened.

 

[gnome]

If "life" means 10 years, why do they call it "life"? Why not just say 10 years?

 

[John Jones]

If "life" means 10 years, why do they call it "life"? Why not just say 10 years?

Indeed.

 

[quixotecoyote]

If "life" means 10 years, why do they call it "life"? Why not just say 10 years?

I would imagine because 10 years means something else as well.

 

[John Jones]

I would imagine because 10 years means something else as well.

Oh, that's good. 1010 years in binary, perhaps?

 

[quixotecoyote]

Oh, that's good. 1010 years in binary, perhaps?

I've no idea. I'm talking about in Britain.

 

[John Jones]

I've no idea. I'm talking about in Britain.

I have spies in Britain, and they tell me that there is a distinct and pronounced difference between life and 10 years.

 

[quixotecoyote]

I have spies in Britain, and they tell me that there is a distinct and pronounced difference between life and 10 years.

I thought your objection was that it wasn't being pronounced.

 

[Kensington Bailey]

I'm reminded of the Steve Martin routine with the phrase "I forgot armed robbery was illegal".

No. It was "how to make a million dollars and never pay taxes. First. Make a million dollars. Then, when the IRS knocks on your door, simply say these two words: 'I forgot.' "

 

[zorro99]

I was under hypnosis at time of shooting’ says Sirhan Sirhan

By Richard Luscombe in Miami
Published on Tuesday 29 November 2011 18:00

FOR DECADES he claimed he could never remember the night he gunned down Senator Robert F Kennedy at a Los Angeles hotel, a murder that shocked the world and ripped the heart from a political dynasty still mourning the assassination of President John F Kennedy five years earlier.

Now Sirhan Sirhan, the Palestinian immigrant originally sentenced to death for the June 1968 crime and serving a life sentence in a California jail, has launched his latest bid for freedom with a raft of extraordinary allegations

http://www.brasschecktv.com/videos/...nce-shows-sirhan-sirhan-may-be-innocent-.html

 

[Carnivore]

William Pepper, who co-represented Sirhan in his last unsuccessful application in March, said: “We are satisfied that for the first time in 43 years of this case we think we have the evidence to set this conviction aside.”

What the heck?

The latest legal filing relies heavily on audiotape recorded by a journalist of the shooting which experts insist contains proof that 13 shots were fired, more than the eight that could have come from Sirhan’s gun.

It also alleges that, shortly before the trial, prosecutors deliberately removed from evidence a bullet taken from Kennedy’s body because it could not be matched to Sirhan’s weapon.

So... even if all of that somehow turns out to be true doesn't it just mean Sirhan had an accomplice?

 

[brodski]

If "life" means 10 years, why do they call it "life"? Why not just say 10 years?

Because a conviction which results in a life sentence is never "spent", in that even when a lifer gets out of prison they are still "on licence", their release is conditional and if they breach the terms of that licence they can be recalled to prison.