Bobby Kennedy assassin still claims he was 'victim of mind control and his gun didn't fire fatal shot' in new appeal after parole is denied



Sirhan Sirhan was convicted in 1969 for the June 5, 1968 killing of Senator Robert F Kennedy in Los Angeles

Has repeatedly been denied parole since 1983



His lawyers say he was hypno-programmed and allege there was a second shooter

Sirhan Sirhan, the man convicted for the assassination of Senator and presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy, is appealing his sentence of life in prison, claiming that he is innocent.

He has repeatedly protested his innocence and requested parole, with his most recent request denied in March.



Sirhan’s lawyers, William Pepper and Laurie Dusek, are using a defence that is eerily familiar to another Kennedy murder - that there was more than one shooter.

They say the 67-year-old Christian Palestinian born in Jerusalem was hypno-programmed to divert attention from a shooter who actually killed Mr Kennedy in 1968. They also allege he was an easy scapegoat because he is Arab.

Seeking reprieve: Jordan-native Sirhan Sirhan (pictured after the 1968 shooting) claims he did not shoot Senator Robert F Kennedy

The attorneys cite an expert analysis of ‘new evidence’ that shows two guns were fired on the night Mr Kennedy was assassinated in the former Ambassador Hotel in downtown Los Angeles.

According to court papers, Sirhan has stronger eyewitness evidence, along with ‘scientific, forensic evidence which cannot be credibly refuted’ that was not available during his 1969 trial.

Someone get help: Senator Kennedy was shot in the kitchen pantry of the Ambassador Hotel

The attorneys allege that fraud was committed during the trial when the court counted an ancillary bullet as evidence for a bullet that was retrieved from Mr Kennedy’s neck.

Mr Pepper says the substitute bullet had been matched to others from Sirhan’s weapon.

Mind control and hypno-programming are serious and real and have been used for decades by the CIA, U.S. military and other covert operations, Mr Pepper and Mrs Dusek say in the federal court papers, which were filed earlier this week.

‘The public has been shielded from the darker side of the practice. The average person is unaware that hypnosis can and is used to induct antisocial conduct in humans,’ the court papers say.

They attest to Sirhan’s innocence, saying: ‘[Sirhan] was an involuntary participant in the crimes being committed because he was subjected to sophisticated hypno-programing and memory implantation techniques which rendered him unable to consciously control his thoughts and actions at the time the crimes were being committed.’

Mr Pepper told CNN that new examination of audio from that fateful June night ‘clearly showed that 13 shots were fired in the pantry, and Sirhan’s gun had only eight shots, so it definitely means there was a second shooter.’

The once and future president: Senator Kennedy had won the California Primaries and was just addressing a cheering crowd of supporters when he was shot



In custody: Sirhan Sirhan was arrested at the hotel after the shooting. His attorneys claim there was more than one shooter at the Ambassador An analysis of a recently recovered audiotape recorded by a freelance journalist gives Sirhan’s attorneys new fuel for their case.

Mourning: Bobby Kennedy's wife and son follow Kennedy's coffin at his funeral in Washington

The tape – discovered by CNN’s Brad Johnson – has the only known audio recording of the shots fired at Robert Kennedy, recorded from 40 feet away from the shooting.

Two experts independently verified that more than eight shots were captured on the tape.

One of the analysts, Phillip Van Praag, says the shots were too close together to have all come from Sirhan’s handgun.

Nor would Sirhan have had time to reload in the amount of time the shots were fired, Mr Van Praag says.

Robert’s death, much like his brother John’s, is shrouded in mystery and a never-ending list of conspiracy theories that popularly involve multiple shooters and government plots.

Sirhan is serving a life sentence at Pleasant Valley State Prison in Coalinga, California after he was convicted of killing Mr Kennedy and wounding five others during the June 5, 1968 shooting in the pantry of the glamorous Ambassador Hotel.

Mr Kennedy, having just delivered a short speech after winning California’s Primary Election, was ushered through a kitchen pantry en route to a room where reporters were waiting for a press conference.



Shots rang out– three bullets struck Mr Kennedy, and a fourth grazed his suit coat. He died the next day in the nearby Good Samaritan hospital.

Sirhan was arrested at the scene and indicted for murder.



After the 1969 trial, he was convicted to death, a sentence that was overturned in 1972 in exchange for life in prison.

He has repeatedly been seeking parole - and denied it - since 1983.