"Kennedy crash trial opens in N.Y." Associated Press, February 25, 2014
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — Kerry Kennedy swerved her Lexus into a truck, damaging the car and blowing a tire but kept driving and later was slumped at her steering wheel and disoriented, motorists testified Monday at her drugged-driving trial.
Her lawyer said she was ‘‘sleep-driving’’ because she had accidentally taken a sleeping pill.
Kennedy, ex-wife of Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York, daughter of Senator Robert F. Kennedy, and niece of President John F. Kennedy, went on trial Monday in suburban New York.
In his opening statement, defense lawyer Gerald Lefcourt told the six jurors that Kennedy was not disputing that she drove erratically. But he said it happened because she accidentally took a sleeping pill that morning instead of her thyroid medication.
Kennedy’s blood tests revealed a small amount of the sleeping drug zolpidem. ‘‘The zolpidem kicks in. It shuts her down. She’s in a state of sleep-driving,’’ Lefcourt said.
Prosecutor Doreen Lloyd said even if the pill were taken accidentally, Kennedy violated the law ‘‘by failing to stop and pull over as she felt the onset of symptoms.’’
Kennedy, 54, of Bedford, was arrested in 2012 after her car hit a tractor-trailer on an interstate highway. She drove to the next exit, where she stopped, police said.
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"Drug specialist testifies at Kerry Kennedy trial" by Meghan Barr | Associated Press, February 26, 2014
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — The prosecution’s toxicology specialist testified Tuesday that she does not know whether Kerry Kennedy would have realized she was driving erratically after taking a sleeping pill.
The testimony from Elizabeth Spratt, director of toxicology at the Westchester County Department of Laboratories and Research, did not seem to help the drugged-driving case against Kennedy, former wife of Governor Andrew Cuomo and daughter of the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy.
It touched on what appears to be the main point of contention: whether Kennedy, who says she accidentally took an Ambien instead of a thyroid pill before getting into her Lexus, should have recognized the effects of the pill and pulled over before she swerved into a tractor trailer in 2012....
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Also see: Kennedy said she accidentally took sleeping pill before crash
"Jury gets Kerry Kennedy driving case" by Jim Fitzgerald | Associated Press, February 28, 2014
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — Jurors began deliberating Thursday whether Kerry Kennedy broke the law when she drove wildly and sideswiped a tractor-trailer on a New York interstate after she accidentally took a sleeping pill.
The jury deliberated for 45 minutes before breaking for the day. Deliberations resume Friday.
In closing arguments, the prosecution disputed Kennedy’s claim that she never realized she was impaired after taking the sleeping pill instead of her daily thyroid pill.
Prosecutor Doreen Lloyd acknowledged that Kennedy took the sleeping pill by accident but said, ‘‘She is responsible for the chain of events that happened after that.’’
Lloyd insisted the drug, zolpidem, works gradually and suggested Kennedy ignored the onset of symptoms because ‘‘she had a schedule to meet.’’ Defense attorney Gerald Lefcourt countered: ‘‘Accidents are not crimes.’’
Kennedy, the daughter of Robert F. Kennedy and ex-wife of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, was arrested on a charge of driving while impaired following the 2012 accident.
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"Kerry Kennedy acquitted in 2012 accident" by Jim Fitzgerald | Associated Press, March 01, 2014
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — Kerry Kennedy was swiftly acquitted Friday of drugged driving in a case that her lawyers said would never have been brought if she were ‘‘Mary Housewife’’ rather than a member of a well-known political family.
After four days of testimony, a six-person jury took a little over an hour to find Kennedy not guilty of driving while impaired. She was arrested in 2012 after swerving into a tractor-trailer on an interstate highway in her Lexus.
The 54-year-old human-rights advocate — the daughter of Robert F. Kennedy, niece of President John F. Kennedy, and former wife of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo — testified she mistakenly took a sleeping pill instead of her daily thyroid medication the morning of the wreck.
If convicted, she could have faced a year in jail, though that would have been unlikely for a first-time offender.
Her lawyers made sure that the jurors knew all about her famous family. But after the acquittal, they said she should have been treated like ‘‘Mary Housewife.’’ And they accused prosecutors of giving her special treatment by refusing to drop the case.
The district attorney’s office rejected the accusation. And Kennedy herself said she wasn’t angry about being put on trial.
In a show of the Kennedy clan’s famous loyalty, the defendant’s mother, Ethel Kennedy, attended the trial daily. Nearly a dozen other members of the family came by.
Laurence Leamer, who has written three books about the Kennedys, said: ‘‘The Kennedys are very loyal to each other in a crisis. . . . It’s one of the most admirable things about them.’’ He said there’s no way to gauge the effect on the jury, but ‘‘Kennedys or not, it’s Defense 101 to have family members sitting there for the jury to see.’’
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Also see: Kennedy Family Curse
