Today in History - April 23: Notorious assassin spared execution by actions of completely unconnected killer

The murderer of Robert F Kennedy, Sirhan Sirhan, was sentenced to death on April 23, 1969.

Sirhan had asked in court to be executed for the cold-blooded murder he committed against the presidential candidate.

The judge granted his wish and sentenced him to death in the gas chamber.

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But Sirhan would be spared from the gas chamber because of a crime committed four years earlier and two hours south.

Robert Page Anderson was also facing the death penalty for shooting a San Diego pawn shop owner in the back.

Anderson's crime was just as cold-blooded but completely unplanned.

He asked the pawnshop owner to see a rifle for sale, then shot him with it.

The shooting prompted an intense police standoff that saw 1000 bullets fired.

Eventually, police sergeant Allen Brown snuck into the pawn shop and shot Anderson three times.

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But Anderson survived the wounds, only to be sentenced to death.

Anderson successfully argued to the California Supreme Court that being executed constituted a cruel and unusual punishment.

To the shock of conservative Californians, the Supreme Court agreed with him, and ordered the abolition of the death penalty.

As a result, everybody on death row had their sentences commuted to life in jail, including Sirhan Sirhan.

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Sirhan remains behind bars to this day.

Anderson was granted parole in 1976.

People v Anderson also spared the life of Charles Manson, who was on death row for instigating the murders of six people.

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Manson's accomplice, Tex Watson, was also taken off death row following the decision.

He has been denied parole 18 times and remains in jail.

Manson Family members Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel and Leslie Van Houten were also spared their executions.

Atkins died in prison in 2009, but Krenwinkel and Van Houten remain behind bars.

The death penalty was reinstated in California in 1977, and remains technically on the books despite a moratorium signed in 2019.

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