Man Libeled as Kennedy Killer Gets $1.1 Million

A Santa Monica Superior Court judge awarded a Bakersfield farmer $1.1 million in damages Friday after ruling that a supermarket tabloid had falsely named him the true assassin of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy.

Judge Richard Harris ordered the Globe, which had never lost a libel suit, to pay Khalid Khawar the judgment after finding that the paper had failed in the test of whether the story was accurate and neutral. The judge was especially critical of the photo accompanying the article, which had a large black arrow pointing to Khawar and identifying him as the assassin. “I’m thankful I can now be recognized as Robert Kennedy’s admirer and not his murderer,” said Khawar after the judge’s ruling, which upheld a jury’s March 28 recommendation.

Khawar, at the time working as a free-lance photographer, was standing next to Kennedy at the Ambassador Hotel only minutes before the senator was killed by Sirhan Sirhan. The Globe printed a story in which conspiracy theorist Robert Morrow suggested that Khawar was the true assassin.

Anthony Glassman, the Globe lawyer, said he was “shellshocked” by the judge’s ruling, which centered on the picture with the arrow rather than the story. Glassman said he did not know of another case in which a picture was ruled libelous.

“His ruling is unsupported by law or evidence,” said Glassman, who said the Globe will immediately appeal.

Francis Pizzulli, Khawar’s lawyer, said he hoped the outcome “will prove to be a watershed on the insidiousness of reckless tabloidism on responsible journalism.”