WHITE PLAINS — The trial of Kerry Kennedy, who is accused of driving in 2012 under the influence of a sleeping pill, got underway on Mond...
WHITE PLAINS — The trial of Kerry Kennedy, who is accused of driving in 2012 under the influence of a sleeping pill, got underway on Monday, with prosecutors declaring that she should have stopped driving the moment she became aware that her judgment was impaired.
But the defense argued that the nature of the drug itself would have made it impossible for her to make such a rational decision, and that she was guilty of nothing more than mistakenly taking a sleeping pill that she believed to be her thyroid medication.
The trial here in Westchester County has attracted widespread attention in part because it involves a member of the Kennedy clan. Ms. Kennedy is the former wife of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York and a daughter of Robert F. Kennedy. Her mother, Ethel Kennedy, now a frail-looking 85-year-old, was among the first to arrive at Westchester County Court.
“This case is about a mistake, plain and simple,” Gerald B. Lefcourt, Ms. Kennedy’s lawyer, told the jury.
The case also highlighted what has become an increasingly difficult question for authorities: how to deal with people who drive while under the influence of prescription drugs.
There is little dispute over the events of the morning of July 13, 2012, when Ms. Kerry swerved her Lexus S.U.V. into the side of a tractor-trailer on Interstate 684.
She had left her home shortly before 8 a.m., dressed in gym shorts and a tank top, intending to go to her gym.
One witness, Henry Myers, who was driving behind Ms. Kennedy that day, testified that she had been swerving in and out of her lane, and traveling as fast as 70 miles an hour.
He saw her sideswipe the truck, which caused a huge piece of rubber to fly off her car. The right front tire was shredded, but Ms. Kennedy continued to drive, exiting the highway and ending up in a turning lane onto Route 22.
The next witness, William Carlino, said he saw Ms. Kennedy after the accident, when she had stopped and was “slumped over the wheel.”
Mr. Carlino said he recognized her because their children attend the same school. He banged on her window to see if she was O.K.
“She appeared a bit disoriented,” he testified.
Finally, the prosecution called on Officer Joel Thomas of the North Castle police, who arrived on the scene shortly after the accident and performed sobriety tests on Ms. Kennedy. He said she was unable to stand on one leg, or walk nine steps forward and nine steps back in a straight line.
She told the officer that it was possible she took a sleeping pill instead of her thyroid medication, Synthroid, having placed both medications on the same counter.
Blood tests later confirmed that there were trace amounts of a potent prescription sleep aid, Zolpidem, a generic form of the sedative Ambien, in her system. Final toxicology results showed that no other drugs or alcohol were in Ms. Kennedy’s blood or urine.
In 2012, doctors wrote more than 60 million prescriptions for sleeping pills, and Ms. Kennedy’s arrest has triggered a renewed debate about the dangers those drugs can pose for drivers.
Her defense team did not dispute the basic facts of the accident, and the prosecution did not contest the idea that she had not meant to take the sleep medication.
Stephanie DeNise, the assistant district attorney, in her opening statement, said that Ms. Kennedy drove several miles while impaired and should have pulled over the minute she realized something was wrong.
Mr. Lefcourt, calling Ms. Kennedy a “devoted humanitarian,” said she never would have knowingly put others in harm’s way.
“She certainly didn’t know at any time while driving that she had accidentally taken the Zolpidem, because the evidence will show that this person, Kerry Kennedy, would in a heartbeat, if she thought anything was wrong, pull over,” he said.
He said that she was preparing for a long trip to California, Europe and Africa and that she had put the sleeping pills next to the thyroid medication the night before the accident. He also noted that since her arrest, the Food and Drug Administration has lowered the suggested Ambien dosage for women from 10 milligrams to 5.
The fact that the case has gone to a jury trial is unusual. Although there are 2,500 cases brought every year in Westchester County for driving under the influence of either alcohol or drugs, they are typically bargained down to a noncriminal violation requiring a guilty plea and a fine.
The charge against Ms. Kennedy carries a penalty of up to a year in jail, but it is unlikely that someone without a previous criminal record would serve any time if convicted.
-NYTimes
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