During his federal court filings, Sirhan's legal team used acoustic expert, Philip Van Praag to
analyse the 2009 CNN Backstory sound recording of Kennedy's assassination. Praag pointed out the
sound of 13 gunshots, while Sirhan's gun only held eight bullets, and he had no opportunity to
reload, concluding that there was a second gunman involved. Additionally, they believed that the
bullet that caused RFK's death, found in his neck, did not match Sirhan's gun.
<br /><br />
Dr. Edward Simson-Kallas spent time psychoanalysing Sirhan while he was in prison directly after
the assassination, and Daniel Brown, an associate clinical professor in psychology at Harvard
Medical School, also interviewed Sirhan for 60 hours over the span of 3 years. Both concluded that
Sirhan was subject to hypno-programming using both drugs and hypnosis.
<br /><br />
New York attorney, William F. Pepper, who represents Sirhan, believes that Sirhan was hypnotised
and set up as a diversion for the real RFK gunman. The prosecution attorney general, Kamala Harris,
refuted the claim, stating that there was no evidence of Sirhan being brainwashed, and even if
there were a second gunman, he should still be held responsible.
<br /><br />
Researcher Lisa Pease wrote in her 2018 book <i>A Lie Too Big to Fail</i> that Cesar described
himself as a "CIA contract agent".
<br /><br />
RFK's son, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has made statements that, while he believes Sirhan shot at his
father, it was security guard, Thane Eugene Cesar, a security guard at the Ambassador Hotel.
Writing in a 2021 San Francisco Chronice op-ed:
</p>
<br />
<blockquote class="quote mx-6 text-justify">
   "I believe Cesar killed my father. He was in the exact position to fire the shots as described in
   the autopsy. Three witnesses saw him draw his gun — which he later admitted — and one said she saw
   him fire it...The Los Angeles police never bothered to examine the gun. Cesar, who was moonlighting
   that night from his high-security clearance job at the Lockheed plant, acknowledged a loathing for
   the Kennedys and their race-mixing sympathizers.”"
</blockquote>
<p class="quote mx-6 text-justify">
   - Robert F. Kennedy Jr.,
   <br />
   "Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: Sirhan Sirhan didn't kill my father. Gov. Newsom should set him free"
   <br />
   <i>San Francisco Chronicle</i>,
   2019
</p>