Trials: The Sirhan Verdict

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Impassive Reaction. Against this clear-cut charge, the jury had to consider the more esoteric plea by the defense. Not surprisingly, the twelve at times appeared bewildered by the masses of confusing and contradictory psychological evidence presented to convince them that Sirhan was a "schizophrenic, paranoid psychotic." Defense Attorneys Cooper, Russell Parsons and Emile Zola Berman portrayed their client as a man hopelessly crazed by his role in history. They repeatedly referred to his traumatic youth as a Palestinian refugee, victimized by the warring Arabs and Israelis. On the murder night, the "deluded dreamer" was in a "hypnotic trance," his obsession with the murder ritual heightened by liquor. In his summation, Cooper pegged his plea to Sirhan's "diminished capacity" to tell right from wrong. For his part, the proud, hotheaded Sirhan seemed to like being described as a cold-blooded killer. He erupted violently at the mention of his low IQ and the public exposure of irrational jottings found by police in his notebook.

In anticipation of yet another fit of rage, three security guards were positioned around the sallow, dark-eyed defendant while the verdict was being read. Sirhan reacted impassively, however, and was led quietly back to his high-security cell to await sentencing. The first-degree verdict will be appealed, a process that could take a year or more. It is doubtful that all three members of his volunteer team of expert criminal lawyers will continue very long on the case. For them, it has been a wearing and expensive several months. Nor is it likely that Sirhan will be executed, regardless of the sentence the jury proposes. Capital punishment is increasingly rare. Although at least 435 convicts languish on death rows around the country, no murderer has been put to death in the past two years, no matter how heinous the crime.