Justice The People vs. a Dynasty

As the Palm Beach rape trial gets under way, America's most celebrated political family finds itself in the docket

Armed with a good legal team, a little luck and the deference accorded a dynasty, the Kennedy family has generally finessed its transgressions. The public has never learned the full story of what happened when Mary Jo Kopechne drowned in Ted Kennedy's car at Chappaquiddick, when David Kennedy died of a drug overdose in a Palm Beach hotel, or when Joe Kennedy's jeep overturned on Nantucket and crippled a young girl for life. Last week, as the rape trial of William Kennedy Smith began in West Palm Beach with interviews of prospective jurors, the Kennedy family could count on two of...

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