◆ SpookStack

NN TT LT en ee een tee ee ea nsec ee ————eEeEEEe eee EL le A a i, ba Defense of Diminished Capacity Sirhan's defense lawyers tried to convince the jury that the evidence in the case would disclose that Sirhan was an immature, emotionally disturbed, and mentally ill youth. In light of the numerous stipulations by Sirhan's counsel throughout the trial to avoid presentation of inflammatory photographs and ballistics evidence regarding the shooting of Senator Kennedy, and the out of court admissions by Sirhan's attorneys that Sirhan actually shot and killed Senator Kennedy and shot the other victims, it was obvious that the Sirhan defense team was attempting from the very beginning to portray their client as having severe mental problems, thus laying a foundation that Sirhan could not be convicted of “premeditated first degree murder. Defense witnesses and psychiatric testimony were offered that Sirhan had veen, in the early years of his life, while a child in war-ravished Jerusalem (at the time of the original Arab-Israeli war in 1947-48), exposed to severe, repeated acts of war. It was argued that this early childhood experience produced effects on Sirhan that marked his personality for the rest of his life. At the age of 12, Sirhan's family moved to America, (in 1957) only to have Sirhan's father leave their home, abandon his family, and return to Jordan, and supposediy do nothing for the Sirhan family financially. Sirhan obtained a job as an exercise boy at a thoroughbred ranch near Corona, with the intent of becoming a jockey. One day Sirhan was thrown by a horse into a rail, knocked unconscious, and taken to an emergency hospital. From that date onward, Sirhan complained about headaches, became more and more irritabie, brooded, was quick to anger, and became preoccupied with fanatical obsessions of hatred, suspicion and distrust. His attorneys and later psychiatric doctors argued that Sirhan spent long hours reading works on the power of the mind. One such instance was offered into evidence that on June 2, 1967, Sirhan had written, “Declaration of war .against American humanity." An attempt to introduce this writing and other such acts by Sirhan was to shew clear evidence of diminished capacity and mental deficiency. It was argued in court that Sirhan, after his fall and accident, became more concerned with mystical thoughts and searched for supernatural powers of the mind over matter. In January, 1968, Sirhan and his brother bought a .22 caliber Ivor-Johnson revolver to use for sport and Sirhan spent time shooting at various ranges. It was argued as part of his defense that this shooting gave Sirhan a strange release, but that his mystical experiments gave him no peace of mind, and only produced further bewilderment and emotional eaAn Poei an Me WELL Wha 2D - 4 -