Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, April 6, 1991 TAG: 9104060195
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: PALM BEACH, FLA. LENGTH: Medium
"We have identified that particular gentleman as our suspect in this case," said police spokesman Craig Gunkel after stating Smith's full name.
Smith, 30, is a medical student at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., and is the son of Kennedy's older sister, Jean Kennedy Smith, and the late Stephen Smith, a former Kennedy family campaign aide.
Gunkel refused to provide more details or say if and when Smith would be arrested.
Police also said in a separate statement that Smith's Miami attorney, former federal prosecutor Mark Schnapp, "has declined to make his client available for interview by detectives of the Palm Beach Police Department."
Schnapp did not answer telephone calls to his office Friday afternoon.
Police held a news conference an hour after a judge rejected media requests to unseal a police report on the alleged rape.
Palm Beach Circuit Judge Richard Oftedal said police had no legal obligation to provide the document but could do so voluntarily.
Investigators complained a deluge of media attention has hampered their investigation and sought to keep details confidential, a decision challenged in court by media organizations.
Sen. Kennedy, 59, who was at the beachside compound the day of the alleged attack a week ago, said he was working out "a mutual time" to talk to investigators, but added, "I'd be glad to do it right now."
He said he had no objection to full disclosure of the details.
Tabloids, meanwhile, upped the ante on a first-person account.
Oftedal rejected arguments by media organizations seeking release of the original police report on the rape. The lawsuit, filed by The Palm Beach Post, the Palm Beach Daily News and television station WPTV, was heard Thursday.
The 29-year-old woman said she met Smith, Kennedy and the senator's son, Rhode Island Rep. Patrick Kennedy, 24, at a Palm Beach nightspot, the Au Bar club. She said she was invited to the compound early Saturday and was assaulted there.
The alleged victim and her family have been in seclusion, but tabloids have begun a bidding war to get her story of the events.
Tabloid staff members have staked out her home and are dropping offers in her mailbox.
The Globe, a national tabloid, was reported to have offered $100,000, but National Enquirer editor Iain Calder said his newspaper would not be outdone.
"I'd be willing to pay in the six figures, which is a minimum of $100,000, if in fact she's serious," Calder said. "I don't think anyone will outbid us on this one."
He said the Enquirer has devoted more than 20 staffers to the story, and boasted "we would have the story anyway" for Monday's editions even if she doesn't agree to talk.
But David Roth, an attorney for the alleged victim, said she is not likely to accept the offers.
"Her sole motivation is to see that the perpetrator is brought to justice," he said. "She has absolutely no interest in financial recovery."
by CNB