Sirhan Sirhan, who is serving a life prison term at a San Diego prison for assassinating Robert F. Kennedy in 1968 in Los Angeles, lost his 15th bid for parole Wednesday.
Sirhan will be eligible for another parole hearing in five years. He was moved to the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in Otay Mesa more than two years ago.
The decision came after Sirhan answered questions from the parole panel for about three hours in a small, windowless conference room.
Sirhan, 71, stuck to his previous account that he did not remember the shooting in 1968 at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.
He said he recalled being in the hotel then going to his car and returning after realizing he had too much to drink. He said he became interested in a female as he drank coffee.
Paul Schrade, now 91, told the panel that he believes Sirhan shot him but an unidentified second shooter killed Kennedy.
Schrade was a Kennedy confidante who was one of five people injured in the shooting after Kennedy won the Democratic presidential primary in California.
Sirhan was convicted in April 1969 of first-degree murder and assault in the June 5, 1968, assassination of Kennedy, 42, at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. Five others were shot during the attack but survived.
The native Palestinian was initially sentenced to death, but it was later commuted to life in prison after the state Supreme Court declared capital punishment unconstitutional in 1972.
Sirhan was transferred to Donovan State Prison from a Kings County penitentiary on Nov. 22, 2013 — the 50th anniversary of the murder of his victim's older brother, President John F. Kennedy.
He previously was housed at Corcoran State Prison in Central California.
Sirhan has claimed amnesia brought on by excess consumption of alcohol and denied committing the killing, despite having admitted to the crime in open court during his trial.
He was last denied parole in March 2011.
