56 years ago this week, Senator Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated on the campaign trail in Los Angeles, just after winning the California Democratic presidential primary.
The latest episode in my ongoing series “Who Killed Bobby Kennedy?” explores the murder trial of Sirhan Sirhan, and evidence possibly pointing to a second gun.
In April 1969, a jury found Sirhan guilty of first degree murder for the assassination of RFK, and attempted murder of five other innocent bystanders wounded by his barrage of bullets at the Ambassador Hotel.
The seven men and five women, who deliberated 16 hours and 42 minutes before reaching their verdict, found the young Palestinian was mentally capable of mature premeditation before shooting down the senator on June 5, 1968.
At trial, Sirhan confessed to the crime, saying “I killed Robert Kennedy with 20 years of malice aforethought,” a reference to the suffering of his family during the 1948 Israeli/Arab war. Sirhan explained that he targeted Sen. #Kennedy because of his support for #Zionist #Israel.
As the verdict was announced Sirhan, who had been nervously chewing at his fingers, stared straight ahead and showed no emotion.
After a one-day recess, the same jurors heard arguments as to whether Sirhan’s fate should be life in prison or a sentence to the gas chamber at San Quentin. The penalty phase lasted only a few days in contrast to the 15-week trial.
The prosecution did not seek the death penalty but told the jurors either sentence would be just. The jury’s ultimate unanimous verdict was death in the gas chamber for #Sirhan. (The sentence was commuted to life in prison a few years later when California abolished the death penalty.)
As part of my ongoing investigative series “Who Killed Bobby Kennedy?” marking the 55th anniversary of Sirhan’s trial, I recently spoke to #JFK/RFK assassination historian James DiEugenio about the evidence in the case, which Jim believes points to a #conspiracy.
In this episode — “A Second Gun?” –DiEugenio argues that it was impossible for Sirhan’s bullets to have hit and killed Senator Kennedy, and says that RFK’s real killer (a security guard named Thane Eugene Cesar) escaped justice.
Jim DiEugenio is editor in chief at KennedysAndKing.com, author of numerous books on the assassinations of the 1960s,and wrote the screenplay for Oliver Stone’s “JFK Revisited” documentary series.
Catch the premiere tonight at 9 PM Eastern.
Lori Spencer 