{{short description|American lawyer}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2020}} {{Infobox person |image = Evan Freed (cropped).jpg |image_size = |caption = |birth_name = Evan Phillip Freed |birth_date = {{birth date and age|1946|9|11}} |birth_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S. |death_date = |death_place = |other_names = |known_for = association with Robert F. Kennedy |occupation = attorney, photographer |awards = |spouse = }}
'''Evan Phillip Freed''' (born September 11, 1946) is an attorney and freelance photographer who traveled with and photographed the presidential campaign of United States Senator Robert F. Kennedy. Freed was present when Sirhan Sirhan shot Kennedy.
==Life and education== [[Image:Rams grier.jpg|thumb|left|190px|Freed (left), with Roosevelt Grier, 1967]] Evan Freed was born in Los Angeles, California. He graduated from California State University, Los Angeles and University of West Los Angeles School of Law.<ref>[http://members.calbar.ca.gov/fal/Member/Detail/89514 California State Bar Member Records]</ref>
==Robert F. Kennedy assassination== {{Main|Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy}} Freed photographed Kennedy's presidential campaign. At the time of the assassination, Freed had stepped into the pantry area behind the Embassy Ballroom of the Ambassador Hotel (Los Angeles) to repair his damaged camera. He heard shots and immediately saw Sirhan Sirhan firing a revolver toward Senator Kennedy. Freed was then pressed against the wall by a crush of bodies. He watched the struggle to subdue Sirhan, and saw two men and a woman running for the exit at the east end of the pantry.<ref>Philip H. Melanson.'' The Robert F. Kennedy Assassination: New Revelations on the Conspiracy and Cover-Up, 1968–1991''. S.P.I. Books (June 1, 1994) p. 228</ref><ref>Robert Blair Kaiser. ''"R. F. K. must die!": A history of the Robert Kennedy assassination and its aftermath''. Dutton, 1970 p. 129</ref> Kennedy campaign worker Sandy Serrano reported seeing a girl in a polka dot dress running from the scene with a man accompanying her, and claimed that the girl exclaimed, "We shot him! We shot him!" When asked to whom the girl was referring, Serrano reported that the girl said, "We shot Senator Kennedy!" Evan Freed also saw the girl in the polka dot dress, who is linked to Robert F. Kennedy assassination conspiracy theories. Freed appeared in Shane O'Sullivan's 2007 documentary ''RFK Must Die''.<ref name="British Council; October 23, 2007">{{cite web |url=http://film.britishcouncil.org/r-f-k-must-die-the-assassination-of-bobby-kennedy |title=R. F. K. Must Die: The Assassination of Bobby Kennedy |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=October 23, 2007 |website=film.britishcouncil.org |publisher=British Council |access-date=September 1, 2015}}</ref>
Freed's testimony has been cited in support of Robert F. Kennedy assassination conspiracy theories.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Ayton|first1=Mel|title=RFK Assassination: New Revelations from the FBI's 'Kensalt' Files|url=https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/50532|website=historynewsnetwork.org|language=en|date=May 23, 2008}}</ref>
==Later years== In 1979 Freed was admitted to practice law by the State Bar of California. From 1982 to 1987 Freed was employed by the Los Angeles County Public Defender as a criminal defense attorney. In 1987 he joined the Law Offices of the Alternate Defense Counsel in Los Angeles where he worked until 1995.
In 1995 Freed was hired by the Los Angeles City Attorney as a criminal prosecutor. While employed there Freed provided information to the United States Attorney used in a police corruption case, in which an indictment was handed down while authorities continued to probe allegations of misconduct, criminality and civil rights violations in the Los Angeles Police Department.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Lait|first1=Matt|last2=Glover|first2=Scott|title=Two From LAPD Indicted in Alleged Framing of Suspect|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-apr-06-mn-16579-story.html|work=Los Angeles Times|date=April 6, 2000}}</ref>
Freed left the Los Angeles City Attorney's office in 1997 and is now a criminal defense lawyer in Redondo Beach, California. A notable case was Freed's defense of a young driver involved in a fatal accident. Freed contended that glare and not a dirty windshield was the cause of the accident.<ref>{{YouTube|uq6XPgMKXjk|May 11, 2011, video news report of Dirty Windshield Case}}</ref> The case was settled with a plea bargain.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/ci_19588623?source=rss_viewed#.TvHwDT2U8kA.mailto |title=Pasadena Star-News 12/20/2011 |access-date=December 22, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120607041703/http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/ci_19588623?source=rss_viewed#.TvHwDT2U8kA.mailto |archive-date=June 7, 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In another case, Freed obtained a reduced federal court sentence for a man convicted of rhino horn trafficking.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Kim|first1=Victoria|title=Father and son sentenced to prison for rhino horn trafficking|url=https://www.latimes.com/local/la-xpm-2013-may-15-la-me-rhino-horns-20130516-story.html|work=Los Angeles Times|date=May 15, 2013}}</ref> Freed represented one defendant in the 2015 Rowland Heights, California bullying incident, who received a 13-year sentence in a plea bargain.<ref>[http://www.sgvtribune.com/general-news/20160217/chinese-teens-sentenced-in-brutal-rowland-heights-beatings Chinese teens sentenced in brutal Rowland Heights beatings. Ruby Gonzales, San Gabriel Valley Tribune retrieved 2/19/16] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160220064122/http://www.sgvtribune.com/general-news/20160217/chinese-teens-sentenced-in-brutal-rowland-heights-beatings |date=February 20, 2016 }}</ref>
==Evan Freed's Robert F. Kennedy photos== <gallery class="center" > Image: Robert Kennedy in Los Angeles.jpg|Robert F. Kennedy, Los Angeles 1968 Image: Rkennedy05.jpg|Robert Kennedy, San Francisco 1968 Image: Rkennedy02.jpg|Robert Kennedy, Los Angeles 1968 Image: Rkennedy08.jpg|Robert Kennedy, Campaign plane 1968
</gallery>
==References== {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Freed, Evan}} Category:1946 births Category:Living people Category:Robert F. Kennedy Category:Photographers from Los Angeles Category:Lawyers from Los Angeles Category:California State University, Los Angeles, alumni Category:University of West Los Angeles alumni