Inquest on Chappaquiddick

Monday, Jan. 19, 1970

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The five women who had attended the cookout, all workers in Senator Robert Kennedy's presidential campaign, were the final witnesses at the inquest. They were presumably questioned about both the degree of drinking at the party and the time at which Kennedy and Mary Jo left the cottage. There was no indication of what they said, but all emerged looking relieved, some smiling. Kennedy testified that he had consumed only two drinks at the cookout, both rum and Coca-Colas, which would hardly be intoxicating when combined with dinner.

Other witnesses included Associate Medical Examiner Donald Mills, who said that he had repeated earlier public testimony that Mary Jo's death was due solely to drowning. Scuba Diver John Farrar told of how he recovered Miss Kopechne's body, but was not permitted to expound on his theory that Mary Jo could have lived for some time by breathing from an air pocket at the rear of the overturned car. Deputy Sheriff Huck Look was asked about the black car with at least two people in it that he had seen near Dike Bridge about an hour after Kennedy said the accident had occurred.

The transcript of the inquest, which fills 765 pages, was locked up in a courthouse vault and cannot be released until the Superior Court decides that no further prosecution of Kennedy is likely. That will depend heavily on the report to be made by Judge Boyle, who promised to act "without undue delay." Dinis can still file charges on his own, as can a grand jury. But a grand jury normally acts at the urging of a district attorney. It seems highly unlikely that Dinis will bother to press another misdemeanor charge, and his aides concede that there is no evidence to sustain a manslaughter charge. Dinis could decide that he has reason to doubt significant parts of Kennedy's sworn testimony and accuse him of perjury. Dinis seemed to be ruling out any such serious action, however, when he hinted to reporters that if all the testimony secured last week had been available long ago, the inquest would not have been necessary at all. He confided to others privately that the inquest report "will end it."

A legal complication would be a suit against Kennedy by the Kopechne family. But the relationship between the Kopechnes and Senator Kennedy since the accident has been surprisingly amicable. The parents have dined with Kennedy at his Washington home, and Joseph Kopechne last week sharply denied a report that he planned to seek damages from the Senator. The family does expect to benefit from Kennedy's automobile insurance policy, which carries a $100,000 liability provision. Mrs. Kopechne complained of the inquest secrecy. "We had tried to go to the inquest," she said, "but we were turned down." But she repeated her belief that Senator Kennedy "was speaking the truth" in his televised account of the tragedy.