William Kennedy Smith

William Kennedy Smith
Dr. William Kennedy Smith
Born	September 4, 1960 (1960-09-04) Brighton, Massachusetts, USA
Education	Duke University M.D. (Georgetown University School of Medicine)
Occupation	physician
Religion	Roman Catholic
Parents	Stephen Edward Smith and Jean Kennedy Smith

William Kennedy Smith (born September 4, 1960) is an American physician whose work focuses on landmines and the rehabilitation of people disabled by them. He is a member of the prominent Kennedy political family and is famous for a well-publicized 1991 rape trial in which he was acquitted.

Family

Main article: Kennedy family

Smith is the second of four children of Stephen Edward Smith and Jean Kennedy Smith. His mother is the daughter of Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy. He is the nephew of President John F. Kennedy and Senators Robert F. Kennedy and Ted Kennedy. William Kennedy Smith is the brother of Stephen Edward Smith, Jr., Amanda Smith Hood and Kym Smith Morgan. He is married to Anne Henry; at this time they do not have any children.

Education and career

He attended boarding school at Salisbury School in Salisbury, Connecticut. He then went on to receive his undergraduate degree from Duke University, completed premedical postbaccalaureate studies at Bryn Mawr College, and his M.D. degree from Georgetown University School of Medicine. He moved to Chicago and worked as a doctor, activist, and teaching physician at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. He founded the Center for International Rehabilitation,(CIR) "a worldwide humanitarian network of individuals and organizations that promotes the full potential of people with disabilities . . ." and the CIR program Physicians Against Land Mines (PALM). He has published several articles concerning landmines, as well as co-writing and narrating a video on the subject.^{[citation needed]}

Sexual assault accusations and subsequent dismissal

Mug shot of Smith taken after his arrest in 1991.

1991 rape charge and acquittal

In 1991, Smith was tried and acquitted on a charge of rape, represented by Miami-based criminal defense attorney Roy Black in a trial that attracted extensive media coverage.

The incident began on the evening of Good Friday, March 29, 1991, when Smith, then 30 and a half years old, was in a bar (named Au Bar) in Palm Beach, Florida, with his uncle, Senator Ted Kennedy, and his cousin Patrick Kennedy. Smith met a 29-year-old woman, Patricia Bowman and another young woman at the bar. The four then went to a nearby house owned by the Kennedy family. Smith and 29-year-old Bowman walked along the beach. Bowman alleged that Smith raped her; Smith testified that the sex was consensual. Although three women were willing to testify that Smith had sexually assaulted them in incidents in the 1980s not reported to the police, their testimony was excluded. Smith was acquitted of all charges.

2004 sexual assault civil charges dismissed

In 2004, a former employee of the Center for International Rehabilitation alleged that Smith had sexually assaulted her in 1999, and brought a civil action against him. Smith denied her charges, calling them "outrageous" and saying that "family and personal history have made me unusually vulnerable to these kinds of charges" and resigned from the CIR. On January 5, 2005, the court dismissed the employee's lawsuit.

Later in 2005, Smith settled with another employee over sexual harassment.

External links

• Raphael Bell. "William Kennedy Smith: A cry in the dark". Court TV. Archived from the original on 2009-09-04. http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.trutv.com%2Flibrary%2Fcrime%2Fnotorious_murders%2Fcelebrity%2Fwilliam_k_smith%2F&date=2009-09-04. </ref>