Brian in MA wrote:
He pleaded guilty to a charge of leaving the scene of an accident a week after it had occurred; subsequent grand jury inquest the following January found that although the was probable cause that he had operated the vehicle negligently and that his actions likely contributed to her death, the DA at the time chose not to pursue manslaughter charges. The diver who retrieved the body said that given the way she was positioned in a small air pocket, she could have lived for about two hours; he also estimated that if the accident had been reported immediately, he could have rescued her in about 25 minutes. The book goes into detail about the inquest and the DA's decision, also focuses on the State Police detective assigned to the case, who admired the Kennedy's and even though he didn't squelch the investigation, he didn't go out of his way to hide his feelings either. There's a picture in the book of Kennedy entering the courthouse and turning to face reporters, and in the background the detective waiting and holding the door open as if he were his valet. Another picture in the book of the two of them years later at a fundraiser arm in arm smiling broadly for the camera.
I guess I don't get what is contentious about whether he was guilty or not? What would have made him not guilty? The accident being unavoidable or something?
I looked it up and Laura Bush did kill (a classmate no less) by running a stop sign. She was never charged either. I get Teddy's is more egregious because there was a chance he could have saved her, but killing someone due to negligence in a car crash back in the 60's doesn't seemed to have always got one charged with a crime.
Nowadays more so. I remember recently a local high school girl ran off the road (no drugs or anything) and hit a tree which killed a friend in the car and she was charged with crimes, IIRC even against the wishes of the dead friend's parents.