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Sirhan didn't do it?
Topic Started: Nov 29 2011, 08:05 AM (292 Views)
George K
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Finally
After all these years?

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/11/28/lawyers-for-rfk-assassin-sirhan-say-bullet-was-switched-at-trial/


Lawyers for RFK Assassin Sirhan Say Bullet Was Switched at Trial

LOS ANGELES – Lawyers representing convicted assassin Sirhan Sirhan argue in newly filed court documents that a bullet was switched in evidence at his trial and new forensic details show he is innocent of the 1968 killing of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy.

In the latest of many appeals filed on behalf of Sirhan, the attorneys are seeking to overturn his conviction. They repeated a previous assertion and presented reports from experts who said Sirhan was programmed through hypnosis to fire shots as a diversion for the real killer.

Prosecutors had no comment, said Lynda Gledhill, a spokeswoman for the California attorney general's office, which is handling the appeal.

The lawyers, William F. Pepper and Laurie Dusek, also said sophisticated audio tests recently conducted on recordings from the assassination night show 13 shots from multiple guns were fired -- five more than Sirhan could have fired from his small pistol.

Authorities have claimed eight bullets were fired, with three hitting Kennedy and the rest flying wildly around the kitchen and striking five other victims who survived.

Paul Schrade, who was struck by gunfire, refused to comment on the new filing, saying he is working on his own new analysis of the assassination.

Pepper and Dusek argue that before Sirhan's trial, someone switched a bullet before it was placed in evidence because the bullet taken from Kennedy's neck did not match Sirhan's gun. The lawyers suggest a second gun was involved in the assassination, but they do not know who fired it.

Pepper said the new evidence outlined in a 62-page federal court brief filed in Los Angeles is sufficient to prove Sirhan is innocent under the law.

"They put fabricated evidence into court before the judge and jury" Pepper told The Associated Press. "We are satisfied that for the first time in 43 years of this case we think we have the evidence to set this conviction aside,"

The motion was filed last week in federal court in Los Angeles

Whether it has any chance of success is questionable, said leading appellate lawyer Dennis Fischer of Santa Monica.

"It's a longshot in the longest way," he said, "but they certainly are raising intriguing questions."

He said the passage of time weighs against defense appeals, with courts tending to ask what took so long to raise the issues. However, he said federal courts frequently are willing to take a closer look at cases in which governmental misconduct is alleged, even if it is long after the fact.

"The current thinking by the U.S. Supreme Court is these things need to end," said Fischer. But he added in case with such historical importance, "No one will ever be satisfied."

Sirhan, now 67, a Palestinian immigrant, was denied parole after a hearing last March where he denied any memory of shooting Kennedy on June 5, 1968, moments after he claimed victory in the California presidential primary.

Parole officials said he doesn't understand the enormity of his crime that changed U.S. history.

Pepper and Dusek are the latest attorneys to take up Sirhan's case after his conviction and argue on his behalf before parole boards and courts.. All of his appeals have been turned down. Pepper, who has taken on other unpopular cases including that of Martin Luther King assassin James Earl Ray, stepped in after Sirhan's previous lawyer died.

At trial, Sirhan took the witness stand and said he had killed Kennedy "with 20 years of malice aforethought." He later recanted the confession. Prosecutors introduced in evidence handwritten diaries in which he wrote: "RFK must die."

The latest filing by Pepper and Dusek relies heavily on a report by audio analyst Philip Van Praag who did tests on an audio recording made by a news reporter during the shooting. The expert concluded that 13 shots were fired and that none of the sounds on the recording were echoes or other anomalies.

The report also claims that the sounds of gunfire were not isolated to one spot in the room but came from different directions.

The lawyers also contend that Sirhan did not have adequate assistance of counsel at trial, noting that his chief attorney, Grant Cooper, decided Sirhan was guilty at the outset and never pursued available defenses.

The Sirhan defense team settled on a claim of diminished capacity and never denied that Sirhan was the shooter of Kennedy, the brief noted.

"Defense counsel did not pursue the issue of a possible substitution of another bullet," the brief said.

Acknowledging "the difficulty of retrying a case of this vintage," the lawyers asked that the sentence be set aside and Sirhan set free.

"Petitioner fully understands that he is likely to be deported to Jordan where he would hope to quietly live out the rest of his life with family and friends, but at long last he would, at least, have received long delayed justice," the filing states.

As an alternative, they asked that the judge set an evidentiary hearing to reexamine the case.
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"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... "
- Mik, 6/14/08


Nothing is as effective as homeopathy.

I'd rather listen to an hour of Abba than an hour of The Beatles.
- Klaus, 4/29/18
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Copper
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Shortstop

Rosey Grier was right there acting as a bodyguard and he caught the guy as he fired the shots.
The Confederate soldier was peculiar in that he was ever ready to fight, but never ready to submit to the routine duty and discipline of the camp or the march. The soldiers were determined to be soldiers after their own notions, and do their duty, for the love of it, as they thought best. Carlton McCarthy
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Chris Aher
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Middle Aged Carp
Copper
Nov 29 2011, 08:54 AM
Rosey Grier was right there acting as a bodyguard and he caught the guy as he fired the shots.
Grier: "I grabbed the man's legs and dragged him onto a table. There was a guy angrily twisting the killer's legs and other angry faces coming towards him, as though they were going to tear him to pieces. I fought them off. I would not allow more violence."

Sirhan is lucky that Grier was there.
Regards,
Chris
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Mikhailoh
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If you want trouble, find yourself a redhead
If he did not fire those particular shots he was still certainly in on it.
Once in his life, every man is entitled to fall madly in love with a gorgeous redhead - Lucille Ball
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VPG
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Pisa-Carp
Can I assume we are paying for his Lawers? :confused:
I'M NOT YELLING.........I'M ITALIAN...........THAT'S HOW WE TALK!


"People say that we're in a time when there are no heroes, they just don't know where to look."
Ronald Reagan, Inaugural, 1971

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Renauda
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HOLY CARP!!!
Sure why not? Anytime is a good time in America to roll out yet another conspiracy theory regarding the assassination of either ( or both) of the Kennedy brothers.

Tales about those boys' misfortunes are gold I tell you. Gold!
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George K
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Finally
Renauda
Nov 29 2011, 12:16 PM
Sure why not? Anytime is a good time in America to roll out yet another conspiracy theory regarding the assassination of either ( or both) of the Kennedy brothers.

Tales about those boys' misfortunes are gold I tell you. Gold!
:yes:
A guide to GKSR: Click

"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... "
- Mik, 6/14/08


Nothing is as effective as homeopathy.

I'd rather listen to an hour of Abba than an hour of The Beatles.
- Klaus, 4/29/18
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John D'Oh
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MAMIL
Renauda
Nov 29 2011, 12:16 PM
Sure why not? Anytime is a good time in America to roll out yet another conspiracy theory regarding the assassination of either ( or both) of the Kennedy brothers.

Tales about those boys' misfortunes are gold I tell you. Gold!
They should delve more into Joe Jnr's untimely death. Almost certainly some kind of conspiracy. Also, Teddy's miraculous escape after someone spiked his drinks and cut the break cables of his car at that party out on the Cape.
What do you mean "we", have you got a mouse in your pocket?
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Renauda
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HOLY CARP!!!
More misfortunes, more conspiracies! Gold, pure gold I tell you.
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Mikhailoh
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If you want trouble, find yourself a redhead
Truly a Series of Unfortunate Events.
Once in his life, every man is entitled to fall madly in love with a gorgeous redhead - Lucille Ball
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Renauda
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HOLY CARP!!!
Ever noticed that all the victims were "known to police"?


Coincidence?

You decide.
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John D'Oh
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MAMIL
I think there should be an Occupy Hyannis movement started to get to the bottom of this outrage once and for all.

Clearly being one of the 1% isn't all it's cracked up to be.
What do you mean "we", have you got a mouse in your pocket?
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Renauda
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HOLY CARP!!!
Occupy what? Where? Sounds a lot like Uranus to me.
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Copper
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Shortstop

And Kathleen shouldn't have been fooling around with those Englishters.
The Confederate soldier was peculiar in that he was ever ready to fight, but never ready to submit to the routine duty and discipline of the camp or the march. The soldiers were determined to be soldiers after their own notions, and do their duty, for the love of it, as they thought best. Carlton McCarthy
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John D'Oh
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MAMIL
Renauda
Nov 29 2011, 01:05 PM
Occupy what? Where? Sounds a lot like Uranus to me.
Hyannis is a truly beautiful part of the world, marred only by this awful background low-pitched whining noise that is almost impossible to escape from, wherever you go. When I first visited I thought maybe it was caused by the off-shore wind turbines, however apparently it's the local accent.
What do you mean "we", have you got a mouse in your pocket?
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Mikhailoh
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If you want trouble, find yourself a redhead
Never attribute to conspiracy that which may be more easily lain at the door of stupidity or malice.
Once in his life, every man is entitled to fall madly in love with a gorgeous redhead - Lucille Ball
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John D'Oh
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MAMIL
Mikhailoh
Nov 29 2011, 01:20 PM
Never attribute to conspiracy that which may be more easily lain at the door of stupidity or malice.
And how much are your handlers paying you to say that?
What do you mean "we", have you got a mouse in your pocket?
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Mikhailoh
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If you want trouble, find yourself a redhead
John D'Oh
Nov 29 2011, 01:21 PM
Mikhailoh
Nov 29 2011, 01:20 PM
Never attribute to conspiracy that which may be more easily lain at the door of stupidity or malice.
And how much are your handlers paying you to say that?
Conspiracy Fail again. Dang.
Once in his life, every man is entitled to fall madly in love with a gorgeous redhead - Lucille Ball
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John D'Oh
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MAMIL
Posted Image
What do you mean "we", have you got a mouse in your pocket?
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Mikhailoh
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If you want trouble, find yourself a redhead
'pants tent' :lol2:
Once in his life, every man is entitled to fall madly in love with a gorgeous redhead - Lucille Ball
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Der Fuhrer
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Junior Carp
Eye ussed too geiten zee pants tents all zee times ven eye hearen zieg heil!
miss me yet?
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