Psychiatric Test Shows Sirhan as a Model Inmate

When the state Board of Prison Terms canceled Sirhan Sirhan’s parole date here three years ago, the reason given was that he had “demonstrated a pattern of threatening behavior” while in prison for the assassination of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy.

Today, as the parole board convenes at the men’s prison to consider for the seventh time Sirhan’s suitability for release, the three members will have before them a new psychiatric evaluation describing Sirhan as “an exemplary inmate” and stating that he has “no demonstrable predilection for violence at this time.”

What effect the evaluation by staff psychiatrist Dr. Philip S. Hicks will have on the decision of the parole panel remains to be seen. Neither Hicks nor the board members would discuss his report before today’s hearing.

Sirhan, 41, was understandably pleased by the psychiatrist’s evaluation.

‘I Am Not the Same’

“I hope that the parole board will look at the Sirhan of today as Dr. Hicks did and not judge me by past history. I am not the same person,” he said in an interview last week.

Sirhan’s attorney, Luke McKissack, added, “If the board will really be fair and look at this man’s conduct over the past 10 years, they will find a nearly model prisoner. It is not fair to dredge things up about what he said or wrote back many years ago.”

Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner and state Atty. Gen. John Van de Kamp both strongly oppose granting a new parole date to Sirhan.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Larry Trapp, who will represent Reiner at today’s hearing, is expected to question how much time and study Hicks put into making his evaluation of Sirhan.

Van de Kamp, who successfully petitioned the parole board three years ago to cancel Sirhan’s scheduled 1984 release date, said he still opposes granting Sirhan parole “because there is the need to send a message that political assassination will not be tolerated here.”

‘Youthful Appearing’

In Hicks’ report, a copy of which has been obtained by The Times, the psychiatrist said his March examination of Sirhan “revealed a youthful appearing man who is in good contact and well oriented.”

Hicks describes Sirhan as “a pleasant, cooperative person (who) demonstrates maturity and good judgment concerning his situation.”

After stating that Sirhan is “of above average intelligence, intellectually curious and has a remarkably good memory for detail,” Hicks wrote:

“However, he continues to claim partial amnesia surrounding (the assassination) and believes that the three or four drinks he consumed were sufficient to intoxicate him as he was not a drinker.”

In a recent interview with The Times, Sirhan insisted that he still does not recall shooting Kennedy on June 5, 1968, in the pantry of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. He admitted, however, that he had developed a “pent-up rage” against Kennedy, because the senator was a supporter of Israel.

Pursuing the political beliefs that Sirhan says led to the assassination, Hicks gave this summary in his report:

“Sirhan recognizes his identity with, and allegiance to, the Palestinian people and sees himself as a person who, like his father, did not (transplant well) to American culture.

‘Carried Away’

“He appears to be the product of his development, a Palestinian at heart, who became emotionally embroiled in the Arab-Israeli conflict and was carried away by the intensity of his emotions. I see him as having been a ‘political fanatic,’ rather than a psychiatrically disturbed individual.”

Van de Kamp, in his successful effort to have Sirhan’s parole date canceled, pointed out that the 1975 parole panel, which set his 1984 release date, did not have before it two threatening letters Sirhan had written while still at San Quentin.

One letter was sent to his trial attorney, Grant Cooper, in 1971, and the other to San Quentin prison counselor Vern Smith in 1975.

In the letter to Cooper, Sirhan threatened to “splatter the brains” of Robert Kaiser, author of the book “RFK Must Die.” His threat against Smith was in a letter complaining to the counselor about his failure to arrange for treatment of a painful dental problem.

Hicks wrote in his report that he had discussed these threats with Sirhan.

‘Behavioral Problems’

“He admits to his early behavioral problems at San Quentin and believes these were the product of his having been placed in an environment which he could not, at the time, cope with.”

Hicks concluded the report by stating that Sirhan suffered from no present psychiatric disorder and added, “There appears to be no psychiatric contraindications to parole consideration. He has no demonstrable predilection toward violence at this time.”