Originally sentenced to death, his sentence was commuted after the California Supreme Court held that the death penalty as applied at the time was cruel and unusual punishment in 1972. The parole board took notice of reports from a defense team psychologist and the prison psychologist that said Sirhan no longer show violent tendencies and would not be a danger to society if released, but denied parole on the grounds that he neither appreciated the gravity of his crime nor expressed sufficient remorse.
Sirhan admitted to the crime in open court but has since insisted that he does not remember it. His attorney claims that Sirhan was set up as a fall guy and that he was “hypno-programmed”.