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Early life of Sirhan Sirhan
Sirhan was born in Jerusalem to a Palistinian family. When he was 12 him and his family emigrated to New York. His fathers name was Bishara Sirhan and Mary Muzhea. As an adult, he changed church denominations several times, joining Baptist and Seventh-day Adventist churches, and also allegedly dabbling in the occult. He was employed as a stable boy in 1965 at the Santa Anita race track in Arcadia, California. -
The Assasination of Robert F. Kennedy
Sirhan fired 2 shots from a .22 caliber revolver at Senator Robert F. Kennedy and the crowd surrounding him at the Ambassador Hotel in California shortly after Kennedy had finished addressing reporters in the main ballroom. Kennedy was shot 3 times in the chest and died about 26 hours later. Five other people at the party were also shot, but all five recovered. -
Prosecution of Sirhan Sirhan
Despite Sirhan's admission of guilt, recorded in a confession made while in police custody on June 6, a lengthy trial followed. The court judge did not accept his confession and denied his request to withdraw his not guilty plea so that he could plead guilty. Sirhan later recanted his confession. On February 10, 1969, a motion by Sirhan's lawyers to enter a plea of guilty to first degree murder in exchange for life imprisonment (rather than the death penalty) was made in chambers. -
Imprisonment
As of 2011, Sirhan is confined at Pleasant Valley State Prison in Coalinga, California, where he is housed in a cell by himself. From 1992 to 2009, Sirhan had been 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. Prior to 1992 he had been at the Correctional Training Facility (CTF) in Soledad, California. -
Appeals of the Assasination Case
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. The defense moved for a new trial amid claims of set-ups, police bungles, hypnotism, brainwashing, blackmail and government conspiracies. On June 5, 2003, coincidentally the 35th anniversary of Kennedy's assassination, Lawrence Teeter petitioned a federal court in Los Angeles to move the case to Fresno. -
Applications for Parole
In a 1980 transcripted interview with M.T. Mehdi, Sirhan claimed his actions were fueled by liquor and anger. He then complained that the parole board was not taking these "mitigating" circumstances into account when they continually denied his parole. On May 10, 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, howev
