Informed Sources

RFK Assassination Unraveling?

In Los Angeles, suits, allegations, and denials continue to proliferate as the lid threatened to come off the official version of Robert F. Kennedy's assassination in 1968.

Since August 14, when L.A. Superior Court Judge Robert Wenke ordered the refiring of Sirhan Sirhan's gun in order to deal with numerous indications that a second gunman was in the picture, the pressure has been going up. Nine of the city's 15 City Council members have joined the outcry for the release of the L.A.P.D.'s compendious file on the case, and Council has launched its own investigation of the P.D.'s handling of the case. Former Alabama Governor George Wallace has given his support to a resolution before Congress calling for a reopening of the investigations into the last decade's four major U.S. assassination attempts: John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Robert F. Kennedy, and the attempt on Wallace. Prison psychologist who spend 35 hours with Sirhan at San Quentin following the assassination says he is convinced Sirhan was hypnotized, that the whole story can be elicited from him, and that a major piece of prosecution evidence--Sirhan's notebook--was a forgery.

The L.A.P.D., understandably alarmed, has reacted by holding on tight to its files, trying to keep more skeletons from falling or being pulled out of the closet, and quite possibly destroying evidence. According to police, among the items no longer available are chemical tests on the bullets, part of RFK's clothing, and door jambs and ceiling panels full of bullet holes. Chief Jesse [sic] Ed Davis says somebody has been playing around with Sirhan's gun, so the test won 't do any good anyway.

Meanwhile, a lawyer for the private security guard who was standing behind Kennedy in the Ambassador kitchen says his client is back in L.A. taking it all in. Having admitted pulling his gun when the shooting started, but not firing it, the guard "may have a statement to make if this all blossums [sic] out."

Sirhan himself has been transferred from San Quentin to Soledad, under reduced security and possibly in danger for his life at this point. Prison officials say they can't see why Sirhan's security status should be affected by the current goings-on. Last year, a former cellmate of his was transferred, then stabbed to death, after he wrote a Nevada state legislator that he had learned about a conspiracy from Sirhan.