Prospective Juror in Smith Trial Excused

A prospective juror in the William Kennedy Smith rape case was excused Wednesday after the court learned that news organizations had inundated the woman with requests to hear her wise-cracking commentary on the Kennedy family saga.

Florida Circuit Judge Mary E. Lupo dismissed 78-year-old Florence Orbach and agreed to immediately consider defense requests to dismiss the remainder of the jury pool and to bar TV cameras from covering the jury selection process.

“There is a clear and present danger to William Smith’s right to a fair trial,” declared defense counsel Roy Black, who also moved to have police investigate calls he said had been placed to Orbach by representatives of the tabloid TV show “Hard Copy” and others. “This whole surrounding is getting out of control.”

The Orbach episode may strengthen the defense’s hand in any later appeal on grounds that Smith did not receive a fair trial because of pervasive publicity. It also heightens concern about the behavior of the press in the sensational case, which began on March 30 when a 30-year-old woman alleged that Sen. Edward M. Kennedy’s nephew had raped her at the family’s Palm Beach estate.

Orbach, who had reduced the court to laughter during her pre-selection interview on Tuesday, called the judge Wednesday morning to complain that her phone was ringing at five-minute intervals with calls from such places as Los Angeles, Toronto, Las Vegas, San Francisco and New York.

“I can’t go to the john,” said Orbach, a Palm Beach widow. She asserted that she did not know Tuesday that the proceeding was being televised and felt “horrible” when she learned that she had been “made a fool of.”

In her pre-selection interview, Orbach had said she thought Kennedy was “idealistic, but maybe a little horny.” She said she would never go to a high-priced saloon like Palm Beach’s Au Bar, where Smith met the alleged victim, “for a very practical reason: Who am I going to meet at my age?”

Orbach’s performance prompted Smith to joke that Orbach should be hired as a commentator for Courtroom Television, a new cable network that is covering the trial.

Judge Lupo sought to pacify Orbach during her call, telling her that she had “exhibited a great deal of personality” and praising her honest answers.

But, after the call, she told the lawyers in the case that Orbach was “a walking mistrial” and agreed to prosecutor Moira K. Lasch’s motion to excuse Orbach.

Lasch noted that Orbach had watched television news Tuesday night despite the judge’s instructions to the contrary and said the woman “does not appear capable of following instructions. . . . Her whole attitude toward the court system was a joke.”

Black insisted that what was “frightening” to him was that the news and entertainment organizations would “go beyond the bounds,” adding that “some action should be taken” against them.

Lupo agreed to consider Black’s motions at a hearing at 9 a.m. this morning. So far, the court has conducted a preliminary screening of more than 30 prospective jurors since beginning the jury selection process last Thursday.

Black has already failed in one attempt to have the judge bar television coverage of the jury selection process.

Michael Salnick, a West Palm Beach defense attorney, said the Orbach incident was likely to strengthen Black’s hand on appeal and might lead to a dismissal of the jurors already screened. “The media may have overplayed (their) hand,” he said.