Prosecutor Seeks AIDS Test on William Smith

A prosecutor asked for court authority Wednesday to conduct an AIDS test on the blood of William Kennedy Smith, saying the state was acting at the request of the woman who alleges Smith raped her.

The request was filed the day after it was disclosed that an FBI examination matched samples of fluid recovered from the 29-year-old woman with Smith’s DNA profile. The probability of finding such a genetic match at random would approximate 1 in 300,000, according to the FBI.

“It has been scientifically established that there was a transmission of body fluids from the defendant to the victim,” prosecutor Moira K. Lasch told the court in asking that the test be made.

Smith, 30, the nephew of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), is scheduled to be arraigned here Friday on sexual battery and battery charges. He is accused of assaulting the woman during the Easter weekend on the grounds of the Kennedy family’s oceanfront estate.

Smith has not publicly confirmed or denied that he had sexual relations with the woman after she drove him back to the estate from a chic nightclub. But his cousin Patrick, Kennedy’s son, said in sworn testimony that Smith told him he had had sex with the woman.

Smith, who is not required to appear personally at the arraignment, has dismissed the woman’s account as an “outrageous lie.”

Lasch, a Palm Beach County assistant state attorney, said, “The victim in this case has requested that the defendant in this case be tested for AIDS.” A police investigative report said the victim had expressed concern over the possibility that her alleged attacker might be infected with AIDS.