Defense Attacks Key Rape Case Witness : Smith trial: Lawyer for accused points to apparent contradictions, and says testimony was fabricated for money from TV show.

In a slashing cross-examination, the defense in the William Kennedy Smith rape trial Tuesday attacked a key prosecution witness by comparing her apparently conflicting statements and accusing her of fabricating testimony for money.

Roy E. Black, attorney for the nephew of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), accused Anne W. Mercer of changing her testimony to corroborate the story of a friend who is the alleged rape victim. Mercer invented other testimony, he claimed, to embarrass the Massachusetts senator so she could sell her story to the television show, “A Current Affair,” for $40,000.

“Isn’t it a fact this whole program was created just to embarrass the Kennedy family?” demanded Black.

Smith, 31, is charged with raping a 30-year-old Jupiter, Fla., woman in the early hours of last March 30 at the Kennedy family’s oceanfront estate in Palm Beach. Mercer, who drove with her boyfriend to pick up the woman after the alleged crime, is one of the most important witnesses in substantiating the accuser’s story.

Earlier, under questioning from prosecutor Moira K. Lasch, Mercer said that she had gone to the Kennedy estate after the alleged crime to find the accuser “hysterical, very shook up, crying.” She said when she first encountered Smith, he was wearing no shoes, and his shirt was “out.”

Mercer said that a little later, at Mercer’s house, the alleged victim continued to be highly upset: “She was very hysterical, put her knees up to her chest, and when we tried to talk to her, she would jump--like she didn’t want someone to touch her.”

The testimony appeared to buttress the prosecution’s contention that the woman showed signs of a rape victim that morning.

In a classic courtroom assault, Black tried to unravel her account with his questions on point after point:

--Why did Mercer first tell police that she did not know Smith’s name while she was at the nightclub, where Smith and the alleged victim met, but later said that she had been introduced to him there?

--If Smith was a “ferocious” rapist, as the accuser claimed, why did Mercer go willingly to a darkened mansion to reclaimed her friend’s high-heeled shoes? And, if Mercer had angrily confronted Smith over his purported crime, as she claimed, is it true that she also then left the estate by saying, “I’m sorry we had to meet in these circumstances”?

--Why did Mercer first tell police that the accuser had said she had been “raped twice,” but later changed the story to allege a single crime?

--Why did Mercer tell police in a March 30 interview that the victim had said that Sen. Kennedy watched the purported assault, then dropped that assertion later?

Black--as the defendant’s aunts, Eunice Shriver and Ethel Kennedy, and his cousin, Christopher Kennedy Lawford, looked on--prodded Mercer to admit the contradictions in her statements. When she balked, Black brandished a copy of her police statements, or played audio tapes of her words from a black tape recorder that was poised on the defense attorneys’ table.

Mercer, 33, a onetime model who has been described by other witnesses as tough and sarcastic, at times was combative and at other moments appeared near tears. Black shed his usual mild manner for a harsh and emotional tone as he questioned her.

Under questioning, Mercer acknowledged that the Fox Television show had paid her $25,000 for one interview, and another $15,000 for a second, which was aired last Monday. Part of the money paid for a six-day trip to Mexico for Mercer and Chuck Desiderio, her boyfriend, who went with her to the Kennedy estate on the night of the alleged crime.

Mercer’s discussion of her compensation started a buzz in the tiny courtroom and prompted Florida Circuit Judge Mary E. Lupo to threaten to clear the room of spectators.

In sworn statements, Mercer has told of a confrontation that night at the nightclub with Sen. Kennedy. In it, she said, Kennedy angrily demanded: “Who are you? What do you know about world politics?”

Black said that the comment about world politics did not appear in Mercer’s early statement. It was made up, he hinted, to make her story more salable to television.

The early account of the dispute was “before you knew the Kennedy name could make you a lot of money . . . isn’t that correct?” Black demanded.

But Mercer contended that she did not include the comment in early statements because she was “scared” of the Kennedys and did not want to provoke their anger.

She said that, if she had only wanted to profit from her experience, “I would have taken the $150,000” offered by “A Current Affair” before the public release of her police statement. Mercer said that she had also been offered $100,000 by the Globe, a tabloid newspaper, and $50,000 plus 50% of royalties by another tabloid, the National Enquirer.

Mercer said that she had added details to her account after her first police interview, because she had remembered more as she thought about the events of that night. “My memory has been recollected on the particulars,” said Mercer, explaining that she had been in a “frenzied” state that morning.

Also Tuesday, the court released the 677-page deposition of the accuser. It appeared to show a woman in control, poised and combative under the questioning of defense attorneys.

At one point, the woman was asked: “Did he (Smith) have any weapon?” “Himself,” she responded.

At another point, she was asked why she remained at the estate for many minutes after the purported crime, instead of trying to flag down a passing car on nearby Ocean Boulevard.

“I had been raped by the defendant,” she said. “I had been terrified by the man. I didn’t know what to do. I have never experienced fear like that.”