207. Looks Like A Murderous Conundrum - Paul Kordenbrock, Sirhan Sirhan And The Puzzle Of Sentencing Reform

In this episode Melissa tackles the complex moral, ethical and practical aspects of sentencing reform – in particular the parole of those who have committed heinous murders – and the answers aren’t easy to come by.  The focus begins with the murder of three innocent workers in Northern Kentucky in January 1980, when then 24 year-old Paul Kordenbrock and his accomplice Michael Kruse entered a Western Auto store in the town of Florence, stole a cache of firearms, then Kordenbrock shot Stanley Allen and store owner William Thompson in their heads while they laid on the floor.  Allen died and Allen survived.  Just 15 hours prior, in neighboring Kenton County, Kordenbrock (who was also accompanied by Kruse) shot and killed two service station workers, Rick Allen Jones and Timothy Mains.  While the fate of Kruse is foggy, Kordenbrock - the trigger man in both crimes – was sentenced to death in the Western Auto murder – then later had that sentence reduced to life in prison after he admitted to the service station killings.  Today at age 66, Kordenbrock claims to be a changed man, having found religion and new meaning in his life – and is working as a “prison advocate” for death row inmates and the elimination of capital punishment.  Whether this “new persona” is really just a ploy to get released or not, no one can ever know…which brings Melissa to discuss the August 27, 2021 ruling of a California parole board to recommend parole for Sirhan Sirhan, the assassin of New York Senator and presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy in 1968.  At age 77, after 53 years in a correctional facility, Sirhan convinced the board that he is fully repentant and that he will never again be the man he was in his youth.  What makes the Sirhan parole recommendation so interesting is that two of the late senator’s nine surviving children, Robert, Jr. and Douglas, actively petitioned for the release of their father’s killer, expressing not only forgiveness – but love – toward the assassin.  The murders committed by Kordenbrock and Sirhan, and the subsequent handling of their sentences, sparks some fascinating reflections from Melissa (and Producer Mark) in this week’s compelling episode.