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Selected Lapses. Defense witnesses testified that a head injury Sirhan suffered in 1966, when he fell from a horse, caused his personality to change; he became solitary and withdrawn. He dabbled in the mystic philosophy of the Rosicrucian cult and revealed that his stream-of-consciousness writings about killing Kennedy before June 5 were inspired by a sermonizing article titled "Put It in Writing" in a Rosicrucian magazine. "Pick a goal," the article had exhorted. "Set a target date. Now start working to make it come true."
Did Sirhan admit that he had shot Kennedy? It was Defense Lawyer Grant Cooper who asked the question. "Yes, sir, I did," replied Sirhan. But his memory of the murder, he insisted, was a blank. He recalled having coffee with a beautiful girl at Kennedy's campaign headquarters. "The next thing I remember, sir, I was being choked." To the defense, such lacunae in Sirhan's story are a source of worry. They believe a full rationale for the killing, however illogical, would give greater credence to their defense of insanity or diminished responsibility. Moreover, Prosecutor Lynn Compton, a dogged questioner, has already begun to pick at the curious lapses in Sirhan's highly selective memory.