DEFENSE SNIFFS
Pompous plea to jurors halted by Kerry-trial judge
Kerry Kennedy’s druggeddriving trial kicked off Monday with her lawyer touting her storied lineage — and elderly mom Ethel making a rare public appearance in court to support her.
“She is a daughter of Ethel and Robert Kennedy and a niece of our past president, John Fitzgerald Kennedy,” highpowered attorney Gerald Lefcourt told jurors in the packed White Plains courtroom, where two of Kerry’s brothers, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Douglas, also sat.
Judge Robert Neary — after impatiently listening to the lawyer add that Kerry Kennedy has two daughters in Ivy League schools — sniffed, “Mr. Lefcourt, this isn’t evidence.”
Kerry, the exwife of Gov. Cuomo, is expected to take the stand in her own defense as early as Tuesday.
She was arrested the morning of July 13, 2012, after her 2008 silver Lexus SUV hit a tractortrailer on I684 in Westchester and didn’t stop. Instead, Kennedy, 54, of Bedford, drove with a blown tire for five miles before finally pulling off on a highway exit, where she struck a guardrail as she tried to drive away again.
Lefcourt claimed Monday that his client was “sleep driving” after accidentally taking an Ambien pill instead of her thyroid medication.
“This case is about a mistake, plain and simple,” he said.
But prosecutors said Kennedy had to know she was under the influence of the sleeping aid when she first crashed because the drug kicks in quickly.
“She would have realized her mistake and she would have known” she had taken the wrong medication, prosecutor Stefanie DeNise said. “She is responsible for her actions that day . . . by failing to stop her car and pull over.”
Kennedy’s mom, the 85yearold widow of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, listened intently after entering the courtroom in a wheelchair. Dressed in a navy jacket, gray pants and white sneakers, Ethel Kennedy was accompanied by family friend Joe Armstrong, former publisher of Texas Monthly, and an unidentified woman. Douglas Kennedy’s wife, Molly, also sat with the family.
Kerry faces a single count of driving while impaired by drugs. If found guilty, she could lose her license and land up to a year behind bars.
Witnesses described the accident for jurors. Henry Myers said he was at a stoplight getting ready to get on I684 South behind a silver Lexus that had “Joe Kennedy for Congress” and “Riverkeeper” bumper stickers. The Lexus moved erratically from the moment the light turned green, he said.
“She swerved onto the grass. I thought maybe she was on her phone or something,” but then she swerved again as they got on the highway, he said.
“The car took off pretty quick, got into the middle lane, then was swerving into the other lanes” at 70 to 75 mph without signaling.
“A tractortrailer came up beside her. The Lexus hit the side of him. I saw smoke. I figured the car would stop, but then as we kept going, I saw a big piece of tire roll down the shoulder” and Kerry barrel off, Myers said.
A second witness, William Carlino of Armonk, said he came upon the Lexus at an intersection off Exit 3 and saw the driver slumped against the steering wheel, but didn’t recognize her.
“I asked if she was OK, and she nodded in the affirmative,” he said, adding that she appeared “a bit disoriented.”
She then got back in the car and started to back up, Carlino said. He said he told her to stop, but she kept going, hitting the guardrail. That’s when he called cops, he said.
Under crossexamination, Lefcourt asked, “She was out of it?”
“Yes. I would say yes,” Carlino answered.
North Castle Police Officer Joel Thomas said that, at the scene, “She was asked to recite the alphabet from the letter ‘J’ to the letter ‘T.’ She performed it successfully without mistakes.”
He then asked her to stand on one leg, Thomas told the court.
“She did not perform the test successfully,” he said. “She was unable to maintain her balance.”