Locked away forever

The Daily News tries to avoid printing the names of mass shooters to deny these killers the fame they may seek, so this editorial will not use the moniker which is both the first and last name of California inmate B21014, who shot six people at close range in Los Angeles on June 5, 1968, killing New York Sen. Bobby Kennedy after RFK had just won the state’s Democratic presidential primary.

The assassin was sentenced to death in 1969, but after capital punishment was stopped in California in 1972 (it resumed in 1992), he became eligible for parole. Parole was routinely denied every few years he came up for review for four decades. Until Aug. 27, 2021, when B21014 was granted parole, shocking the nation and blindsiding the still grieving Kennedy family. Thankfully, California, unlike New York, has a gubernatorial veto on parole decisions and Gov. Gavin Newsom blocked the Parole Board’s outrageous action to release one of history’s most notorious political killers, a man who today we would rightly call a terrorist.

Last week, the California Parole Board again considered B21014, his 17th hearing (the time between hearings has varied from one to five years) and he was justly denied parole. His next hearing is in 2026.

This horrible and absolutely guilty man was supposed to have been put to death long ago. When capital punishment was suspended, he should have been resentenced to life without the possibility of parole, the current standard along with death for the most egregious murderers, including cop killers.

New York prisons hold two infamous murderers similarly situated. John Lennon’s assassin, inmate 81A3860, has been up for parole every two years since 2000 and has always been denied. He is up again next year. The Son of Sam serial killer, 78A1976, has been eligible for release since 2002. He was denied in 2022 and his next appearance before the Parole Board is also in 2024.

There’s a good reason that life without parole is on the books. Too bad it can’t be used retroactively.