Word: inquests
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...inquest is not a criminal trial. While a person may be indicted during a grand-jury proceeding, no one stands accused of a crime at an inquest. Attorneys for witnesses may not be present at a grand-jury proceeding. They are sometimes allowed at an inquest; yet they are not normally permitted to raise objections to the testimony, nor do they have the right to cross-examine witnesses. Thus, the inquest testimony can range widely, and counsel is forbidden to challenge any allegations that are made, no matter how farfetched. Kennedy's lawyers claim, however, that a recent Supreme...
...advantages of an inquest is that a judge presides over it; the prosecutor alone conducts a grand jury. The secrecy of a grand jury, however, might better protect the interests of those called to testify in a case that, like Kennedy's, attracts wide public interest. Judge Boyle has decided to open the inquest to newsmen, which is his choice under Massachusetts...
Double Jeopardy? Conceivably, the inquest could disclose evidence of criminal negligence in Mary Jo's death. After Judge Boyle files his report, Dinis might go to a grand jury. If Kennedy is ever indicted, it will be difficult to find a juror who has not been "prejudiced" by something he heard on TV or read in the newspapers about the inquest. On the other hand, there already has been considerable publicity of this kind. If his lawyers do not obtain an injunction, Kennedy could invoke the Fifth Amendment at the inquest and avoid giving answers, but he is unlikely...
...passage in the decision that reads: "There is no requirement that police stop a person who enters a police station and states that he wishes to confess a crime." Such volunteered statements, the decision goes on to say, are admissible as evidence at a trial. Nor is the inquest likely to raise an issue of double jeopardy, since the charge of leaving the scene of an accident is a different offense (and a less serious one) than negligence...
Touching First Base. At a court hearing in Wilkes-Barre last week, Dinis did not specify what he expected to learn from an autopsy on Mary Jo's body. His associate, Assistant D.A. Armand Fernandes Jr., argued that to hold an inquest without an autopsy would be "like hitting a home run without touching first base." If an autopsy had been ordered soon after the accident, it might have determined such facts as what time Miss Kopechne died and whether she had suffered a concussion that prevented her from trying to get out of the car. The Edgartown medical...