Drugged Driving Charges To Stand Against Kerry Kennedy
NORTH CASTLE, N.Y. (CBSNewYork/AP) -- A judge in Westchester County on Tuesday refused to dismiss a drugged-driving case against Kerry Kennedy – the daughter of the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and the ex-wife of Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
In a ruling filed before a court session in the case, North Castle Town Court Justice Elyse Lazansky wrote that Kennedy "cut a wide swath of danger and risk," according to published reports.
While Kennedy had argued her reputation would be damaged by the case, Lazansky wrote in response that "those in positions of power must not be immune from prosecution," according to a Journal-News report.
Kerry Kennedy was arrested July 13 of last year. Her Lexus had swerved across Interstate 684 in North Castle and swiped a tractor-trailer.
Police said she failed several sobriety tests and was swaying and slurring her speech.
She told police she might have accidentally taken an Ambien sleeping pill instead of her thyroid medication, but her spokesman later that day issued a statement saying tests found "no drugs or alcohol whatsoever in her system."
She mentioned again, however, that she told a police officer she might have taken an Ambien pill by accident.
On July 25, prosecutors filed their test of Kennedy's blood sample, which found a small amount of the drug in Ambien.
"It now appears that my first instinct was correct," she said.
The driver of the tractor-trailer that she hit pleaded not guilty in September to leaving the scene of an accident. He said he continued his trip because his truck was undamaged.
Kennedy and Cuomo married in 1990, joining two of America's most prominent political families. They split in 2003 in a messy public divorce that played out in the tabloids. They have three daughters.
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