Cape DA defends handling of charges stemming from Kennedy party
The Cape and Islands district attorney on Wednesday defended his office’s handling of a case brought against the son of Robert F. Kennedy, calling the dismissal of a criminal charge stemming from a loud party in Hyannisport “very normal’’ under the circumstances.
Max Kennedy, 52, was arrested for disorderly conduct and cited for a noise violation when he allegedly became belligerent with police who responded during the predawn hours of Aug. 20 to a complaint of a loud party at a home near the Kennedy compound.
On Tuesday, the disorderly conduct charge was dropped in Barnstable District Court at the request of prosecutors, and Kennedy was deemed responsible for the noise violation and fined $150, court records show.
“This was a noisy party,’’ Michael O’Keefe, the district attorney, said. “Most people come in and simply pay whatever amount of money is owed, and it’s dismissed upon payment. For this particular incident, there was another charge of disorderly, which is very normal under these circumstances.’’
He said that since the incident amounted to a “de minimis’’ case, the legal term for a trivial matter, prosecutors dropped the disorderly conduct charge as long as Kennedy took responsibility for the noise violation and paid the fine.
“Which is a very normal disposition for a case of this nature,’’ O’Keefe said. “If you look at the hundreds of noisy party cases on the Cape . . . it’s still a very normal occurrence.’’
Kennedy declined to comment Wednesday.
On Tuesday, Kennedy said in a statement that he has the “utmost respect’’ for the Barnstable police and described the disturbance as “just a noise violation.’’ He said “some reports blew the situation out of proportion.’’
Barnstable police officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Wednesday.
An incident report said neighbors called police to complain about loud noise around 12:55 a.m on Aug. 20. When police arrived at 172 Irving Ave., across the street from the Kennedy compound, loud music was playing and someone was singing.
Officer Armando Feliciano wrote that Kennedy “told me to leave . . . pointed his finger at my chest and refused any sort of civil communications.’’
He said Kennedy later began “screaming incoherently and throwing himself into the wall’’ and “grabbed a wall cabinet (filled with glass valuables) and threw it, smashing the contents,’’ prompting Feliciano to arrest him.
Feliciano said he put Kennedy in his cruiser and turned toward a “large number of guests who came out of the house and were in the middle of the road.
At that point, the report said, Feliciano saw Caroline Kennedy, Max Kennedy’s 22-year-old daughter, “grab hold of my cruiser door and open it. . . . As she opened the door to the cruiser, the crowd closed in. I was able to get the door closed but this had now flared up the crowd even more,’’ he wrote.
Caroline Kennedy was arrested for allegedly disturbing the peace, and her arraignment is scheduled for Nov. 22.
The New York law firm representing her had no immediate comment.
O’Keefe said he “fully expects the case’’ against the younger Kennedy to “be resolved,’’ but did not elaborate.
