Smith Rape Case Continues in Fla.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.--A state attorney initially said prosecutors in the William Kennedy Smith rape case couldn't use allegations of previously unreported assaults, according to pretrial testimony made public yesterday.

State Attorney David Bludworth said authorities would be unable to use the information unless police reports were filed, Palm Beach police detective Christine Rigolo said under questioning by Mark Seiden, an attorney for Smith.

Seiden pointed to an April 19 report with that comment by Rigolo, a lead detective on the case.

Rigolo said a private attorney for the woman who says Smith raped her March 30 at the Kennedy estate had received an anonymous telephone call from a woman who said her daughter was a Georgetown University student assaulted by Smith.

Rigolo said Bludworth initially said that "unless actual police reports have been filed, we'd be unable to use the information."

Prosecutors on July 22 disclosed they plan to call as witnesses three other women who claim Smith sexually attacked them. One, a former Georgetown University student, claims Smith raped her while she was drunk in 1988. The others said Smith stopped when they resisted.

None of the three reported the alleged attacks to police.

Circuit Judge Mary Lupo has said she will rule before the trial on whether the stories should be allowed as evidence. Smith's attorneys have said the reports of other assaults aren't admissible.

A gag order bars comment about the case by prosecutors, attorneys or police.

Smith, a 31-year-old nephew of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), has pleaded innocent and is scheduled to stand trial January 13.

Also made public yesterday was a deposition by the emergency room doctor who examined the woman after the alleged rape.

Dr. Rebecca Prostko, asked whether she believed the woman was raped, said "there is a definite likelihood," but said she wouldn't give a legal opinion.

"I don't have an opinion on the consent, no, but I think there was some sort of battery, yeah. She obtained a chest contusion in some way," Prostko said.