Quest for Ruling on Rape Names Dropped

A state attorney has apparently abandoned his quest for a judicial clarification to determine if news organizations violated Florida law by identifying the woman who said she was raped by a nephew of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy at the family compound.

Circuit Judge Richard Burk had given State Atty. David Bludworth until Monday to make his case for prosecuting the news agencies, but Bludworth has not filed his argument with the court and abandoned, at least temporarily, his attempt to get a ruling on the law.

Bludworth was unavailable for comment Saturday but his spokesman, Jack Freese, was quoted Saturday in the Miami Herald as saying: “Nothing will be filed . . . Monday on anything.”

Bludworth could decide later to file second-degree misdemeanor charges under the 1911 Florida law without Burk’s advice. The violation carries a maximum penalty of 60 days in jail and a $500 fine.

The 29-year-old woman told police she met William Kennedy Smith, 31, at a Palm Beach bar and drove with him on March 30 to the Kennedy compound, where she said he raped her.