Chappaquiddick (Contd.)

The official inquiries and public explanations concerning last July's Chappaquiddick tragedy have produced more questions than answers about Senator Edward Kennedy's role in the accident that killed Mary Jo Kopechne. The findings of the last round, an inquest on Martha's Vineyard in January, have yet to be made public. Now it seems that some new disclosures--and possibly more trouble for the Senator--are imminent. District Attorney Edmund Dinis last week requested that a grand jury look into the case, a move that increased the likelihood that the entire Chappaquiddick affair may soon be aired in open court.

Rumors about further legal action against Kennedy began to fly when Justice James Boyle filed the inquest transcript and his own report last February. Promptly impounded, the documents were brought to Boston, where Superior Court Chief Justice G. Joseph Tauro ordered them locked in an office safe. The next day Kennedy's lawyer, Edward Hanify, asked to see the transcript of his client's testimony. Before this first request could be acted upon, however, Hanify filed a second petition, whose contents are unknown because he asked that it be impounded. The second petition apparently concerned Boyle's report and was quickly granted. Late in February, Hanify examined inquest documents, presumably including the Boyle report, which was available only to District Attorney Dinis, the state's attorney general, those named in the report as having possible responsibility for Mary Jo's death, and their counsel.

Accusatory Proceeding. The inquest rules specified that no documents were to be released to the public if a possibility existed of further proceedings against any of those involved in the accident. Thus Hanify's concern and the delays in printing the transcript led many to surmise that Boyle had recommended a grand jury inquiry. Further action was delayed by the absence of Dinis, who was vacationing in Portugal.

Returning early in March, Dinis was ushered into the room where the inquest records were kept and shown Boyle's report. Twenty minutes later, he emerged looking disturbed and promising to return. He has yet to go back, but last week he wrote Justice Tauro and requested that the Kennedy case go before a special session of the grand jury that will convene next week.

His request, which was promptly granted, renews the possibility that Kennedy will be indicted, perhaps for "driving to endanger," perhaps even for manslaughter. A grand jury is usually a closed accusatory proceeding, and Dinis need only convince twelve of the 23 jurors that an indictment is warranted in order to obtain one. If that happens, the subsequent trial might not only lay to rest lingering doubts about the Kopechne case--but whatever remains of Kennedy's presidential hopes as well.

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