UK Daily Mail
- Sirhan Sirhan claims not to remember killing
- Lawyer claims he was 'brainwashed' and memory erased
The man who assassinated Robert Kennedy says he was ‘hypno-programmed’ into carrying out the attack.
The claim is at the centre of the latest appeal by Sirhan Bishara Sirhan, who shot RFK dead in a crowded hotel kitchen in Los Angeles in June 1968.
The murder changed the course of U.S. history. Kennedy was on course to win the Democratic nomination and may well have beaten Richard Nixon to the White House.
Freedom: Sirhan Sirhan will begin his bid for freedom in California on Wednesday
Caught: Sirhan is charged with the assassination of Senator Robert Kennedy
His lawyer is expected to argue in a California parole hearing that he was a 'Manchurian Candidate', brainwashed into assassinating RFK in June 1968.
After years of hypnotherapy and psychological examination,attorney William Pepper said there was, 'no doubt he does not remember the critical events.'
Mr Pepper, who will argue for Sirhan's parole on Wednesday said: 'He is not feigning it. It's not an act. He does not remember it.
'It was very clear to me that this guy did not kill Bob Kennedy.'
Sirhan was convicted of shooting Robert Kennedy in the crowded kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.
Kennedy was there after claiming victory in the California presidential primary.
According to the New York-based lawyer, who also is a British barrister, there was a second gunman who shot and killed RFK.
Proponents of the second gun man theory contend that 13 shots were fired at RFK while Sirhan's gun held only eight bullets, and that the fatal shot appeared to come from behind Kennedy while Sirhan faced him.
Mr Pepper also suggests Sirhan was 'hypno-programmed,' turning him into a virtual 'Manchurian Candidate,' acting robot-like at the behest of evil forces who then wiped his memory clean.
The claims are however not expected to have any bearing on the outcome of the parole hearing.
The board is not being asked to retry the case and lawyers are not allowed to present evidence relating to guilt or innocence.
At issue is whether Sirhan, 66, remains a threat to others or to himself, whether he has accepted responsibility for the crime and expressed adequate remorse and whether he has an acceptable parole plan if he is released.
Stricken: Robert Kennedy moments after being shot
His lack of memory makes expressions of remorse and accepting responsibility difficult.
It is not known whether Sirhan will address the hearing at Pleasant Valley men's prison in Coalinga.
He has rarely commented during 13 past parole hearings and some instances has not shown up at all.
If Sirhan is released, he would be the first imprisoned political assassin to win parole in the U.S.
In one of many emotional outbursts during his trial, Sirhan blurted out that he had committed the crime 'with 20 years of malice aforethought,' a statement that could now come back to haunt him.
When arrested Sirhan also said: 'I did it for my country'.
Mr Pepper notes has a personal tie to Kennedy, having been chairman of his citizens' committee when he ran for Senate in 1964.
Dynasty: The Kennedy brothers, John F. Kennedy (left) Robert Kennedy, and Ted Kennedy (right). The 'curse of the Kennedy's' blighted promising careers
Pepper also represented Martin Luther King's assassin, James Earl Ray, through 10 years of appeals and a civil trial which he said proved that Ray was not King's killer.
David Dahle, head Los Angeles deputy district attorney for parole candidates serving life sentences, said his remarks at the hearing will depend on what is presented by the defence.
'At this point, I am sceptical that I will see something that will cause me to not oppose the grant of parole,' he said.
Few high profile prisoners have been released in the California system.
Charles Manson and his followers have been repeatedly turned down for parole.
