Sirhan Sirhan

Sirhan Bishara Sirhan was born into an Arab Palestinian Christian family{{cite news|last=Martinez|first=Michael|title=Sirhan Sirhan, convicted RFK assassin, to face parole board |url=http://articles.cnn.com/2011-03-01/justice/california.sirhan.parole.hearing_1_sirhan-sirhan-parole-board-parole-hearing?_s=PM:CRIME |work=CNN|date=March 1, 2011|access-date=November 4, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111206105806/http://articles.cnn.com/2011-03-01/justice/california.sirhan.parole.hearing_1_sirhan-sirhan-parole-board-parole-hearing?_s=PM:CRIME|archive-date=December 6, 2011|url-status=dead}} in Mandatory Palestine, in Jerusalem's Musrara neighborhood, and became a Jordanian citizen after Jordan annexed the West Bank.{{cite news |url=https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/.premium.MAGAZINE-palestinian-terrorist-or-american-psycho-what-motivated-rfk-s-killer-1.6116114 |title=Why Sirhan Sirhan, a Jerusalem-born Palestinian, Shot Bobby Kennedy |first=Nettanel |last=Slyomovics |date=May 30, 2018 |work=Haaretz |edition=English |access-date=August 27, 2021}}{{cite news |last1=Gorney |first1=Cynthia |date=August 20, 1979 |title=Sirhan |newspaper=Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1979/08/20/sirhan/75cd41f0-e570-4bc4-ac93-83f251eec765/}}{{cite news |last1=Shreiman |first1=Jack |date=June 17, 1968 |title=Who is Sirhan Sirhan? |page=5A |newspaper=Eugene Register-Guard |agency=Associated Press |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1310&dat=19680617&id=vadVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=8OADAAAAIBAJ&pg=5074,3923639&hl=en |via=Google News Archive Search}} According to his mother, Mary, Sirhan was traumatized as a child by the violence he witnessed in the Arab–Israeli conflict, including the death of his older brother, who was run over by a military vehicle that was swerving to evade gunfire.{{cite news |last1=Gorney |first1=Cynthia |title=Sirhan |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1979/08/20/sirhan/75cd41f0-e570-4bc4-ac93-83f251eec765/ |access-date=July 19, 2018 |newspaper=Washington Post |date=August 20, 1979}}

When Sirhan was 12 years old, his family immigrated to the US, moving briefly to New York and then to California. He attended Eliot Junior High School, John Muir High School, and Pasadena City College. Shortly after the family's move to California, Sirhan's father, Bishara Salame Sirhan, returned alone to the Middle East.[http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/terrorists_spies/assassins/kennedy/4.html Sirhan Sirhan profile] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111230150731/http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/terrorists_spies/assassins/kennedy/4.html |date=December 30, 2011}} at TruTV.com Standing {{convert|5|ft|5|in|cm}} and weighing {{convert|120|lb|kg}} at age 20, Sirhan moved to Corona to train to be a jockey while working at a stable but lost his job and abandoned the pursuit after suffering a head injury in a racing accident.{{cite book |last1=Ayton |first1=Mel |title=The Forgotten Terrorist: Sirhan Sirhan and the Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy |date=2007 |publisher=Potomac Books, Inc. |isbn=9781597974592 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nLrLavNCQpUC |access-date=July 19, 2018 |language=en}}

Sirhan never became a US citizen, instead retaining his Jordanian citizenship.

As an adult, Sirhan changed church denominations several times, joining Baptist and Seventh-day Adventist churches.{{cite web|url=http://www.biography.com/people/sirhan-sirhan|title=Sirhan Sirhan: Biography|date=November 6, 2019 }} In 1966, he joined the esoteric organization Ancient Mystical Order of the Rose Cross, one of the Rosicrucian Orders.{{cite magazine|url=http://www.crimemagazine.com/05/robertkennedy,0508-5.htm|title=The Robert Kennedy Assassination: Unraveling the Conspiracy Theories|author=Mel Ayton|magazine=Crime Magazine| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100103081231/http://www.crimemagazine.com/robert-kennedy-assassination-unraveling-conspiracy-theories|archive-date=January 3, 2010}}

{{Main|Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy}}

File:Sirhan Sirhan.gif

Around 12:15 a.m. PDT on June 5, 1968, Sirhan fired a .22 LR Iver-Johnson Cadet revolver{{cite news |last1=Moldea |first1=Dan E. |title=RFK's Murder a Second Gun? |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/1990/05/13/rfks-murder-a-second-gun/9248e988-9fff-4366-b3e3-2849420b9bf9/ |newspaper=Washington Post |date=13 May 1990}} at United States Senator Robert F. Kennedy and the crowd surrounding him in the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, shortly after Kennedy had finished addressing supporters in the hotel's main ballroom. Authors George Plimpton, Jimmy Breslin, and Pete Hamill, former professional football player Rosey Grier{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/75931357/ |title=Triumph and Disaster |date=June 6, 1968 |newspaper=Daily News|access-date=April 17, 2021|location=New York |page=57 |via=Newspapers.com |quote=Pro football player Roosevelt Grier (l) helps restrain Sirhan (c).}} and 1960 Olympic gold medalist Rafer Johnson were among several men who subdued and disarmed Sirhan after a struggle.{{Cite web|url=https://www.newser.com/story/299523/man-who-helped-subdue-rfks-assassin-dead-at-86.html|title=Man Who Helped Apprehend Sirhan Sirhan Dead at 86|date=December 2, 2020|access-date=April 19, 2021}}

Kennedy was shot three times—once in the head and twice in the back—with a fourth bullet passing through his jacket. He died about 26 hours later at Good Samaritan Hospital. Five other people at the event were also shot, all of whom recovered: Paul Schrade, an official with the United Auto Workers union; William Weisel, an ABC TV unit manager; Ira Goldstein, a reporter with the Continental News Service;Andrea Hescheles (January 5, 2011). [http://www.dailynews.com/centennial/ci_17970727/ "Political activism grows"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111101195147/http://www.dailynews.com/centennial/ci_17970727 |date=November 1, 2011 }}. DailyNews, Los Angeles. Elizabeth Evans, a friend of Pierre Salinger, one of Kennedy's campaign aides; and Irwin Stroll, a teenage Kennedy volunteer.[https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-02-20-mn-33997-story.html "Irwin N. Stroll; Wounded in RFK Slaying, He Became Famed Designer"], Los Angeles Times (February 20, 1995), Retrieved November 27, 2011.{{cite web| url=http://www.citizinemag.com/politics/politics_0506_rfk_twhite.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060115012625/http://www.citizinemag.com/politics/politics_0506_rfk_twhite.htm |title= RFK Assassination Far From Resolved|first=Thom|last=White |work=Citizine |date=June 5, 2005 |archive-date=January 15, 2006}}

{{Main|Robert F. Kennedy assassination conspiracy theories}}

The assassination spawned many conspiracy theories, many of which claimed there was a "second gunman" or that Sirhan was not the true killer.{{cite web |url=http://historynewsnetwork.org/article/38496 |title=The Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy and the Girl in the Polka Dot Dress |last=Ayton |first=Mel |date=May 7, 2007 |website=historynewsnetwork.org |publisher=History News Network |access-date=March 5, 2025}}

In a 2018 interview with The Washington Post, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said that he had traveled to California to meet with Sirhan in prison and that, after a relatively long conversation (the details of which he would not disclose), believed that Sirhan did not kill his father and that a second gunman was involved.{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2018/05/26/who-killed-bobby-kennedy-his-son-rfk-jr-doesnt-believe-it-was-sirhan-sirhan/|title=Who killed Bobby Kennedy? His son RFK Jr. doesn't believe it was Sirhan Sirhan.|last=Jackman|first=Tom|date=June 5, 2018|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=June 5, 2018|quote=... Kennedy had joined those who believe there was a second gunman, and that it was not Sirhan who killed his father.}}

Even though Sirhan admitted his guilt in a recorded confession while in police custody on June 9, a lengthy, publicized trial followed in The People of the State of California v. Sirhan Sirhan. The judge did not accept Sirhan's confession and denied his request to withdraw his plea of "not guilty" to plead "guilty".{{cite court |litigants=The People v. Sirhan (1972) |vol= |reporter=FindLaw |opinion=Cr. 14026 |pinpoint=4. Other Claims of Error with Respect to Admission of Evidence |court=Supreme Court of California |date=June 16, 1972 |url=https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/ca-supreme-court/1826802.html |postscript= }} 7 Cal. 3d 710

On February 10, 1969, Sirhan's lawyers made a motion in chambers to enter a plea of guilty to first-degree murder in exchange for life imprisonment rather than the death penalty. Sirhan told Judge Herbert V. Walker that he wanted to withdraw his original plea of not guilty to plead guilty as charged on all counts. He also asked that his counsel "dissociate themselves from this case completely." The judge asked him what he wanted to do about sentencing, and Sirhan replied, "I will ask to be executed". Walker denied the motion and said, "This court will not accept the plea." He also rejected Sirhan's request for his counsel to withdraw; his counsel entered another motion to withdraw from the case of their own volition, but Walker also denied that. Walker subsequently ordered that the record be sealed about the motion.

The trial proceeded, and opening statements began on February 12. The lead prosecutor in the case was Lynn "Buck" Compton, a World War II veteran of Easy Company fame who later became a justice of the California Court of Appeal.{{cite magazine |title=Sirhan Sirhan: Assassin of Modern U.S. History |first=Denise |last=Noe |magazine=Crimemagazine.com |access-date=January 16, 2009 |archive-date = July 30, 2008 |url=http://crimemagazine.com/04/bobbykennedy,0527.htm |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080730051517/http://www.crimemagazine.com/04/bobbykennedy,0527.htm}} David Fitts delivered the prosecution's opening statement, providing examples of Sirhan's preparations to kill Kennedy. The prosecution showed that Sirhan was seen at the Ambassador Hotel on June 3, two nights before the attack, to learn the building's layout, and that he visited a gun range on June 4. Alvin Clark, Sirhan's garbage collector, testified that Sirhan had told him a month before the attack of his intention to shoot Kennedy.{{cite court |litigants=The People v. Sirhan (1972) |vol= |reporter=FindLaw |opinion=Cr. 14026 |pinpoint= |court=Supreme Court of California |date=June 16, 1972 |url=https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/ca-supreme-court/1826802.html |postscript= }} 7 Cal. 3d 710

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Sirhan's defense counsel included attorney Grant Cooper, who had hoped to demonstrate that the killing had been the impulsive act of a man with a mental deficiency. But Walker admitted into evidence pages from three of Sirhan's journal notebooks that suggested the crime was premeditated and "quite calculating and willful". On March 3, Cooper asked Sirhan in direct testimony whether he had shot Kennedy; Sirhan replied, "Yes, sir", but then said that he did not bear Kennedy any ill will. Sirhan also testified that he had killed Kennedy "with twenty years of malice aforethought". He explained in an interview with David Frost in 1989 that this referred to the time since the creation of the State of Israel. He has maintained since then that he has no memory of the crime or of making that statement in court.{{cite web|last=Skoloff|first=Brian|url=http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/state/20030306-2018-ca-sirhanparole.html|title=Sirhan Sirhan denied parole for 12th time|publisher=Signonsandiego.com|access-date=January 16, 2009}}

The defense based its case primarily on the expert testimony of Bernard L. Diamond, a professor of law and psychiatry, who testified that Sirhan was suffering from diminished capacity at the time of the murder.{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-11-21-mn-4578-story.html |title=Bernard Diamond; Expert on Psychiatry and the Law |work=Los Angeles Times |access-date=November 27, 2011}}

Sirhan was convicted on April 17, 1969, and was sentenced six days later to death in the gas chamber. Three years later, his sentence was commuted to life in prison, owing to the California Supreme Court's decision in People v. Anderson, which ruled that capital punishment is a violation of the California Constitution's prohibition against cruel or unusual punishment. The February 1972 decision was retroactive, invalidating all existing death sentences in California.

Sirhan's lawyer Lawrence Teeter later argued that Grant Cooper was compromised by a conflict of interest and was, as a consequence, grossly negligent in defense of his client.{{cite web|url=http://www.jfk-info.com/teeter2.htm |title=Teeter Statement of June 5, 1998 |publisher=Jfk-info.com |access-date=January 16, 2009}} The defense moved for a new trial amid claims of setups, police bungles, hypnotism, brainwashing, blackmail and government conspiracies.{{cite news| title=Attorney says Sirhan didn't kill Robert Kennedy| first=Robert |last=Jablon| work=Daily Breeze|agency=Associated Press|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-15682891.html| location=Los Angeles | date=June 6, 2003| access-date=September 10, 2009}}{{dead link|date=February 2019|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}{{cite news|title=Killer of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy wants appeal moved from Los Angeles courts| first=Louinn |last=Lota |publisher=Associated Press Worldstream|date=June 4, 2003| location=Los Angeles| url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-74441263.html| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110501085721/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-74441263.html| url-status=dead| archive-date=May 1, 2011|access-date=September 10, 2009 }} On June 5, 2003, coincidentally the 35th anniversary of Kennedy's assassination, Teeter petitioned a federal court in Los Angeles to move the case to Fresno. He argued that Sirhan could not get a fair hearing in Los Angeles, where a man who helped prosecute him was then a federal judge: U.S. District Judge William Matthew Byrne Jr. in Los Angeles was an assistant U.S. attorney during Sirhan's trial, and part of the prosecutorial team.{{cite news|title=Article: Killer of R. F. Kennedy Wants Appeal Moved| first=Louinn | last=Lota| date=June 4, 2003|publisher=AP Online|location=Los Angeles|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-74440128.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110501085724/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-74440128.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 1, 2011| access-date=September 10, 2009}}

Since 1994, Teeter had been trying to have state and federal courts overturn Sirhan's conviction, arguing his client was hypnotized and framed, possibly by a government conspiracy. During one hearing, Teeter referred to testimony from the original trial transcripts regarding a prosecution eyewitness to the attack, author George Plimpton, in which he said that Sirhan looked "enormously composed. He seemed ... purged." This statement coincided with the defense's argument that Sirhan had shot Kennedy while in a hypnotic trance. The motion was denied. Teeter died in 2005, and Sirhan declined other counsel to replace him.{{cite news|work=Wilmington Morning Star|agency=Associated Press| title= Sirhan says liquor, anger led to killing| location=Los Angeles |date=September 27, 1980|access-date=September 9, 2009 |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=v-UVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=LBQEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5527%2C5825541}}

On November 26, 2011, Sirhan's defense teams filed court papers for a new trial, saying that "expert analysis of recently-uncovered evidence shows two guns were fired in the assassination and that Sirhan's revolver was not the gun that shot Kennedy"{{cite news| publisher=CNN | url=http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/04/justice/california-rfk-second-gun/index.html?iref=obnetwork | title=Attorneys for RFK convicted killer Sirhan push 'second gunman' argument | date = March 5, 2012}}[http://www.maryferrell.org/wiki/index.php/Robert_Kennedy_Assassination The Robert Kennedy Assassination]. Mary Ferrell Foundation. and he "should be freed from prison or granted a new trial based on 'formidable evidence', asserting his innocence and 'horrendous violations' of his rights".{{cite news| publisher=CNN | url=http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/26/justice/california-sirhan-rfk/?hpt=hp_t3| title=Convicted RFK assassin Sirhan Sirhan seeks prison release| date = November 26, 2011}}

On January 5, 2015, Sirhan's motion was denied by U.S. District Judge Beverly Reid O'Connell in Los Angeles, who said that Sirhan "failed to meet the showing required for actual innocence" that might excuse his having failed to seek his freedom sooner in federal court. "Though petitioner advances several theories regarding the events of June 5, 1968, petitioner does not dispute that he fired eight rounds of gunfire in the kitchen pantry of the Ambassador Hotel", O'Connell wrote. "Petitioner does not show that it is more likely than not that no juror, acting reasonably, would have found him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt."

{{multiple image|align=right|direction=vertical|width=200|header=Sirhan's diary|image1=Sirhan1.jpg|image2=Sirhan2.jpg}}

A motive cited for Sirhan's actions is the Middle East conflict.{{cite news| url=http://www.jewishjournal.com/opinion/article/palestinian_terror_stretches_back_to_rfk_killing_at_the_ambassador_hotel_20|title=Palestinian terror stretches back to RFK| first=Paul | last=Kujawsky| work=The Jewish Journal|date=May 29, 2008|access-date=September 9, 2009}} After his arrest, Sirhan said, "I can explain it. I did it for my country". Sirhan believed that he was deliberately betrayed by Kennedy's support for Israel in the June 1967 Six-Day War,{{cite web|url=http://www.crimemagazine.com/part-ii-why-sirhan-sirhan-assassinated-robert-kennedy|title=Part II: Why Sirhan Sirhan Assassinated Robert Kennedy by Mel Ayton|publisher=Crimemagazine.com|access-date=January 16, 2009}} which had begun exactly one year before the date of the assassination. During a search of Sirhan's apartment after his arrest, a spiral-bound notebook was found containing a diary entry that demonstrated that his anger had gradually fixated on Kennedy, who had promised to send 50 fighter jets to Israel if elected president.{{citation needed|date=June 2025}} Sirhan's journal entry of May 18, 1968, read: "My determination to eliminate R.F.K. is becoming the more and more [sic] of an unshakable obsession ... Kennedy must die before June 5th". They found other notebooks and diary entries expressing his growing rage at Kennedy; his journals also contained many aphorisms that were thought to be his version of "free writing". He wrote in support of communism: "Long live Communism ... I firmly support the communist cause and its people ... American capitalism will fall and give way to the worker's dictatorship".{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/11/15/archives/i-achieved-in-a-day-what-it-took-kennedy-all-his-life-to-do-rfk.html|title='I achieved in a day what it took Kennedy all his life to do' By Thomas S. Szasz|work=The New York Times|date=November 15, 1970 |access-date=August 1, 2020|last1=Szasz |first1=Thomas S. }}

The next day, on June 6, a front-page article in the Los Angeles Times interpreted the attack on Kennedy as an act of antisemitism rather than political protest. The article read: "When the Jordanian nationalist, Sirhan Bishara Sirhan, allegedly shot Kennedy, ostensibly because of the senator's advocacy of U.S. support for Israel, the crime with which he was charged was in essence another manifestation of the centuries-old hatred between Arab and Jew".{{cite news|work=Los Angeles Times|date=June 6, 1968|access-date=September 9, 2009|title=Yorty Reveals That Suspect's Memo Set Deadline for Death|first=Jerry|last=Cohen|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/512460622.html?dids=512460622:512460622&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Jun+6%2C+1968&author=JERRY+COHEN&pub=Los+Angeles+Times+%281886-Current+File%29&edition=&startpage=0_1&desc=Yorty+Reveals+That+Suspect%27s+Memo+Set+Deadline+for+Death|page=Front Page|location=Los Angeles, Calif.|archive-date=April 30, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110430052151/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/512460622.html?dids=512460622:512460622&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Jun+6%2C+1968&author=JERRY+COHEN&pub=Los+Angeles+Times+%281886-Current+File%29&edition=&startpage=0_1&desc=Yorty+Reveals+That+Suspect%27s+Memo+Set+Deadline+for+Death|url-status=dead}}

M. T. Mehdi, then secretary-general of the Action Committee on American-Arab Relations, believed that Sirhan had acted in justifiable self-defense, stating: "Sirhan was defending himself against those 50 Phantom jets Kennedy was sending to Israel".{{fact|date=January 2025}} Mehdi wrote a 100-page book called Kennedy and Sirhan: Why?{{cite book|title= Kennedy and Sirhan: Why?| first=Mohammad Taki |last= Mehdi |year=1968|isbn=0-911026-04-5|edition=Illustrated Paperback|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s9y6AAAAIAAJ|pages=100| publisher=New World Press }}

In a 1980 interview, Sirhan said he had been drunk on the night of the attack, which was also the anniversary of the 1967 Arab-Israeli war: "You must remember the circumstances of that night, June 5. That was when I was provoked. That is when I initially went to observe the Jewish Zionist parade in celebration of the June 5, 1967, victory over the Arabs. That was the catalyst that triggered me on that night ... In addition, there was the consumption of the liquor, and I want the public to understand that".

In 1971, Sirhan was housed in the Adjustment Center at San Quentin State Prison.{{cite news|last=Yoemans|first=Jeannine|title=San Quentin Story Unfolded; Officials Give Account of Escape Attempt|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=vItLAAAAIBAJ&sjid=KiQNAAAAIBAJ&pg=7056%2C5471921|access-date=March 18, 2013|newspaper=The Press-Courier|date=August 24, 1971|agency=AP|location=Oxnard, California|page=5}} He was subsequently transferred to the Correctional Training Facility (CTF) in Soledad, California, where he was confined until 1992.Curtis, Kim. Even in prison, Jackson would be 'star'. Daily Breeze (Torrance, CA), June 13, 2005.Grossi, Mark. Corcoran Prison Home to Who's-Who of Killers. The List of Infamous Murderers at the State Facility has Grown This Week to Include Sirhan Sirhan and Juan Corona. The Fresno Bee, June 5, 1992, From 1992 to 2009, he was confined at the California State Prison (COR) in Corcoran, California, and lived in COR's Protective Housing Unit until he was moved to a harsher lockdown at COR in 2003. In October 2009, ostensibly for his safety, he was transferred to the Pleasant Valley State Prison in Coalinga, California, where he was housed in a cell by himself.Deutsch, Linda. [http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2010186978_apussirhantransfer.html "Robert F. Kennedy's killer is moved to new site"], The Seattle Times, Associated Press, November 2, 2009. He was subsequently moved back to Corcoran.

On November 22, 2013, Sirhan was transferred from Corcoran to Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego County. The transfer occurred on the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Still, a spokesman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said that the transfer was "a routine matter of housing allotments" and its timing was "simply an unfortunate coincidence".Monica Garske, [http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/11/22/21580708-rfk-killer-sirhan-sirhan-moved-to-another-prison-on-anniversary-of-jfk-assassination RFK killer Sirhan Sirhan moved to another prison – on anniversary of JFK assassination], NBCNews.com (November 22, 2013). Retrieved on November 23, 2013.

On August 30, 2019, Sirhan was stabbed multiple times by another prisoner.{{cite news |title=Robert F. Kennedy Assassin Sirhan Sirhan Stabbed in Prison Assault |url=https://www.tmz.com/2019/08/30/sirhan-sirhan-assaulted-prison-robert-f-kennedy-assassin/ |work=TMZ |language=en}}{{cite news |title=Sirhan Sirhan, the man who shot Robert Kennedy, stable after prison stabbing |url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/aug/31/sirhan-sirhan-assassin-of-robert-kennedy-stabbed-in-prison |work=The Guardian |date=August 31, 2019}} He was taken to a hospital, where his condition was reported as stable.{{cite news|url=https://www.apnews.com/ebe7cfc1b97f4b4e9e56e19a9a697e47|title=RFK assassin Sirhan Sirhan stable after prison stabbing|last=Thompson|first=Don|date=August 31, 2019|work=AP News|access-date=August 31, 2019}} He returned to the prison two days later, after his discharge from the hospital.{{cite news|url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/sirhan-sirhan-back-prison-surviving-stabbing-attorney/story?id=65327829|title=Sirhan Sirhan back in prison after surviving stabbing: Attorney|last=Francescani|first=Chris|date=September 1, 2019|work=ABC News|access-date=April 17, 2021}}

In a 1980 interview with M. T. Mehdi, Sirhan claimed that his actions were fueled by liquor and anger and complained that the parole board was not taking these "mitigating" circumstances into account when it continually denied his parole.

In 1974, Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn dedicated their communist manifesto Prairie Fire: The Politics of Revolutionary Anti-Imperialism to Sirhan (along with 200 others), hailing him as a courageous political prisoner.{{cite news|url=https://www.nationalreview.com/2011/01/horrid-crime-dishonest-debate-andrew-c-mccarthy/|title=A Horrid Crime, a Dishonest Debate |date=January 11, 2011| work= National Review|first=Andrew|last=McCarthy}} In February 1973, Sirhan's release was one of the demands of the Black September Organization, which took American hostages at the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Khartoum.{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2003-jun-02-oe-fischbach2-story.html|title=First Shot in Terror War Killed RFK |date=June 2, 2003| work= Los Angeles Times|first=Michael|last=Fischbach}}

In 1982, Sirhan told the parole board: "I sincerely believe that if Robert Kennedy were alive today, I believe he would not countenance singling me out for this kind of treatment. I think he would be among the first to say that, however horrible the deed I committed 14 years ago was, that it should not be the cause for denying me equal treatment under the laws of this country".{{cite news|first=Carol|last=Oppenheim|title=RFK would OK parole, Sirhan says|work=Chicago Tribune|page=9|date=May 11, 1982}}{{cite news| title= Sirhan denied parole for 10th time in RFK killing| first= Steve| last= Wilstein| work= Daily Breeze| place= Torrance, California| date= May 24, 1989| access-date= }}

Sirhan was denied parole for the 14th time in 2011.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/03/us/03brfs-SIRHANSIRHAN_BRF.html?_r=1|title=California: Sirhan Sirhan Denied Parole|date=March 2, 2011| work= The New York Times|first=Ian|last=Lovett}} He was denied parole again in 2016, at his 15th parole hearing. One of Sirhan's shooting victims from that night, Paul Schrade, aged 91 at the time of the hearing, testified in his support, stating his belief that a second shooter killed Kennedy and that Sirhan was intended to be a distraction from the real gunman by an unknown conspiracy.{{cite news| url= https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2016/02/10/this-kennedy-confidant-has-spent-decades-calling-for-the-release-of-rfks-killer/?tid=sm_fb|title=Sirhan Sirhan denied parole despite a Kennedy confidant's call for the assassin's release|date=February 11, 2016|newspaper= The Washington Post|first=Peter|last=Holley}}{{cite news|url=http://europe.newsweek.com/robert-kennedy-assassin-sirhan-sirhan-denied-parole-official-425598 |title=Robert Kennedy assassin, Sirhan Sirhan, denied parole: official |date=February 11, 2016 |agency=Reuters |newspaper=Newsweek }}{{cite web| url= http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article44184.htm |title=Man Shot Alongside RFK Say Sirhan Sirhan Should Be Granted Parole |first= Steve |last= Fiorina |date=February 11, 2016 |work=Information Clearing House }} Sirhan repeated his claim to have no memory of the shooting, saying: "It's all vague now. I'm sure you all have it in your records. I can't deny it or confirm it. I just wish this whole thing had never taken place." His parole was denied because he had not expressed adequate remorse for his crime or acknowledged its severity.

On August 27, 2021, in his 16th appearance before the parole board, the board's two-person panel voted to grant Sirhan parole after finding that he no longer posed a threat to society.{{cite news |url= https://apnews.com/article/middle-east-d5e12df9cc3c0241ab108bfc124dda1b|title=Board says RFK assassin Sirhan changed man; grants parole|first1=Julie|last1=Watson|first2=Brian|last2=Melley|publisher=Associated Press| date=August 27, 2021|access-date=December 19, 2021}} He had served 53 years in prison. Two of Kennedy's surviving sons, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Douglas Kennedy, offered their support for parole during Sirhan's appearance before the parole board.{{cite news|url=https://ktla.com/news/local-news/l-a-county-d-a-wont-oppose-release-of-rfk-killer-sirhan-sirhan-who-faces-parole-board-friday/|title=RFK assassin Sirhan Sirhan granted parole by CA board, with support of 2 Kennedy sons| agency= Associated Press| first= Rick |last= Chambersa|publisher=KTLA|date=August 27, 2021|access-date=December 19, 2021}} Parole Board Commissioner Robert Barton even told Sirhan, "We think that you have grown". The decision was subject to a 90-day review by the California Board of Parole Hearings, after which the governor of California had 30 days to grant, reverse, or modify the decision.{{cite news |url=https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/27/us/sirhan-sirhan-parole-rfk-assassination/index.html |title=Board recommends parole for RFK assassin Sirhan Sirhan on 16th attempt |first1= Ray |last1=Sanchez |first2=Cheri |last2=Mossburg |date=August 27, 2021| work= CNN.com |access-date=August 27, 2021 }}{{Cite web |last1=Watson |first1=Julie |last2=Melley |first2= Brian |agency=Associated Press |date=August 27, 2021 |title=RFK Assassin Sirhan Wins Parole With Support Of 2 Kennedys |url=https://boston.cbslocal.com/2021/08/27/rfks-son-favors-parole-sirhan-sirhan/ | website= boston.cbslocal.com |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210828064738/https://boston.cbslocal.com/2021/08/27/rfks-son-favors-parole-sirhan-sirhan/ |archive-date=August 28, 2021 |access-date=August 28, 2021 |language=en-US}}

Six other surviving children of Robert F. Kennedy—Joseph P. Kennedy II, Courtney Kennedy, Kerry Kennedy, Christopher G. Kennedy, Maxwell T. Kennedy, and Rory Kennedy—opposed parole for Sirhan, and urged the full parole board or Governor Gavin Newsom to reverse the recommendation.{{cite news|url=https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/569852-children-of-rfk-divided-over-ruling-to-grant-fathers-assassin|title=Children of RFK divided over ruling on assassin's parole| first= Caroline| last= Vakil|date=August 28, 2021|work=The Hill}} They filed a statement with the parole board on August 27, 2021, opposing Sirhan's release.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/27/us/sirhan-sirhan-parole-rfk.html |title=Parole Board Recommends Release of Sirhan Sirhan, Robert F. Kennedy's Assassin |work=The New York Times |date=August 27, 2021 |first=Nicholas |last=Bogel-Burroughs |access-date=August 27, 2021}} Rory Kennedy wrote a guest essay in the New York Times saying that Sirhan did not deserve parole, citing his lack of remorse and unwillingness to accept responsibility.{{cite news| first= Rory |last= Kennedy| authorlink= Rory Kennedy |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/01/opinion/rory-kennedy-sirhan-sirhan.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20211228/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/01/opinion/rory-kennedy-sirhan-sirhan.html |archive-date=December 28, 2021 |url-access=limited|title=The Man Who Murdered My Father Doesn't Deserve Parole|newspaper=New York Times|date=September 1, 2021}}{{cbignore}}

Neither Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón nor any office staff appeared at the parole hearing or took any position on parole for Sirhan. This was a break from the previous practice of the prosecution, which had opposed parole in all of Sirhan's previous hearings. Upon taking office, Gascón had issued a directive that his office's "default policy" was not to attend parole hearings or take a position on parole.{{cite news |url=https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/26/us/sirhan-sirhan-parole-rfk-assassination/index.html |title=Prosecutors will not oppose parole for convicted RFK assassin Sirhan Sirhan |date=August 26, 2021 |work=CNN |access-date=August 27, 2021 |first1=Cheri |last1=Mossburg |first2=Jack |last2=Hannah |first3=Natasha |last3=Chen }}{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2021/08/25/sirhan-parole-hearing/ |title=RFK assassin Sirhan Sirhan will seek parole without opposition from prosecutors|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=August 25, 2021 |last=Jackman |first=Tom|access-date=August 25, 2021 }} It was later acknowledged that Sirhan's parole was also aided by a recent California law that required the parole board to consider things like age, health, and childhood trauma as mitigating factors—things it had not considered before.

On January 13, 2022, California Governor Gavin Newsom denied Sirhan's latest bid for parole. Newsom wrote an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times stating that even though the state parole board had recommended Sirhan for parole, the severity of the crime and Sirhan's "current refusal to accept responsibility for it" led him to deny the request.{{multiref|1={{Cite news |last=Newsom |first=Gavin |date=January 13, 2022 |title=(Op-Ed) Newsom: Why I will not release Sirhan Sirhan on parole |url=https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2022-01-13/sirhan-gavin-newsom-parole-decision|access-date=January 14, 2022 |newspaper=Los Angeles Times}} |2={{citation |last1=Newsom |first1=Gavin |work= Indeterminate sentence parole decision review (Penal Code Section 3041.2) |date=January 13, 2022 |url=https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/1.13.22-Sirhan-Reverse-Decision.pdf | publisher=Government of California |title=SIRHAN SIRHAN, B-21014|postscript=.}}}}

At Sirhan's 17th parole board appearance on March 1, 2023, he was again denied parole.{{cite news|url=https://apnews.com/article/kennedy-assassin-sirhan-sirhan-parole-677c24ee621f6cb70b6165e741f87e65|title=RFK killer Sirhan Sirhan denied parole by California board|work= apnews.com| publisher= Associated Press|date=March 1, 2023}} Sirhan has waived his right to contest deportation if he is paroled.{{Cite web |last= Watson |first=Julie Watson |agency= Associated Press| work= thehill.com |date=March 1, 2023 |title=RFK killer Sirhan Sirhan denied parole by California board |url= https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/3880098-rfk-killer-sirhan-sirhan-denied-parole-by-california-board/ |access-date=March 2, 2023 |language=en-US}}

{{Portal|Biography}}

• RFK, a 2002 American television film
• Bobby, a 2006 American drama film
• RFK Must Die, a 2007 investigative documentary
• Notable Inmates at California State Prison, Corcoran
• Robert F. Kennedy's 1948 visit to Palestine

{{reflist}}

• Jansen, Godfrey, Why Robert Kennedy Was Killed: The Story of Two Victims, New York, Third Press, 1970. {{OCLC|137100}}.
• Kaiser, Robert Blair, "R.F.K. Must Die!": A History of the Robert Kennedy Assassination and Its Aftermath, New York, E.P. Dutton & Co, Inc. 1970. {{ISBN|978-1-59020-070-4}}.
• Kaiser, Robert Blair, "R.F.K. Must Die!": Chasing the Mystery of the Robert Kennedy Assassination, New York, Overlook Press, Peter Mayer Publishers, Inc. 2008. {{ISBN|978-1-59020-124-4}}.
• Melanson, Philip H., Who Killed Robert Kennedy?, Berkeley, California, Odonian, 1993. {{ISBN|978-1-878825-12-4}}.
• Turner, William V., and John G. Christian, The Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy: A Searching Look at the Conspiracy and Cover-up 1968–1978, New York, Random House, 1978. {{ISBN|978-0-394-40273-4}}.
• Ayton, Mel, The Forgotten Terrorist: Sirhan Sirhan and the Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, Washington, D.C., Potomac Books, 2007. {{ISBN|978-1-59797-079-2}}.
• Mehdi, Mohammad Taki, Kennedy and Sirhan: Why?, New World Press, 1968. Edition: Illustrated Paperback, 100 pages. {{ISBN|978-0-911026-04-7}}.
• {{cite book |last1=Witcover |first1=Jules |title=85 days: The last campaign of Robert F. Kennedy |date=1969 |publisher=Ace |location=New York |url=https://archive.org/details/85dayslastcampai00witc/page/266/mode/2up|url-access=registration|isbn=978-0399102363}}

{{Commons category}}

• {{IMDb name|id=0802805|name=Sirhan Sirhan}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070617104527/http://www.crimelibrary.com/terrorists_spies/assassins/kennedy/4.html The Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy]. By Joseph Geringer. Crime Library biography.
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20080403063030/http://www.kpfa.org/archives/index.php?arch=8965&page=2&type= Interview with Sirhan's attorney Lawrence Teeter on KPFA 94.1 / Guns & Butter show]
• [http://www.realhistoryarchives.com/collections/assassinations/teeter.htm Statement of Sirhan Sirhan's former lawyer, Lawrence Teeter, released on the 30th anniversary of the murder of Robert Kennedy.]
• [http://crimemagazine.com/robert-kennedy-assassination-unraveling-conspiracy-theories "The Robert Kennedy Assassination: Unraveling the Conspiracy Theories"]. Mel Ayton, Crime Magazine May 8, 2005
• [http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/thedailymirror/2007/06/refugees.html Refugees]. Los Angeles Daily Mirror story about Sirhan working as a delivery boy at a Pasadena health food store. June 23, 2007.
• [https://archive.org/details/TheLostSignificanceOfSirhansCase The lost significance of Sirhan's case]. Organization of Arab Students. University of Southern California. Los Angeles, 1969. A brief excerpt from Sirhan's testimony that the editor claims was ignored by the press.
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCU2MCxjAJ0 The Real Manchurian Candidate] Dr. Daniel Brown, a leading expert on hypnosis and coercive persuasion at Harvard Medical School, discusses Sirhan's case and range mode programming. 2018.

{{Robert F. Kennedy|state=collapsed}}

{{Authority control}}

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