Summations Delivered in Kennedy Trial; Verdict Awaited
It is now up to Mount Kisco Village Judge John Donohue to determine whether Douglas Kennedy endangered the welfare of his two-day-old son and harassed two nurses at Northern Westchester Hospital last January.
Kennedy’s bench trial in Mount Kisco concluded Friday afternoon with the completion of testimony by emergency department physician Dr. Timothy Haydock and closing statements from both sides. Haydock was the defense’s only witness in the week-long trial.
It is not known when Donohue will return with a verdict and whether he will do so in writing or reconvene the court.
“I will make the decision in a reasonable period of time,” Donohue said.
In a one-hour, 45-minute summation, defense attorney Robert Gottlieb said the highly questionable actions of maternity ward nurses Anna Lane and Cari Luciano last Jan. 7 escalated a calm and reasonable request from Kennedy to take his two-day-old infant outside for fresh air into an unnecessary incident. Lane cited hospital policy to prohibit Kennedy from taking the baby off the floor even though there is procedure in place for a parent to obtain permission from an attending pediatrician to go outside, the lawyer said.
Gottlieb said the two nurses, investigated by the hospital, have motivation by “embellishing and exaggerating” their story. They have looked to capitalize on the episode “by trying to line their pockets with Douglas Kennedy’s money.” Lane and Luciano hired a personal injury attorney, awaiting the outcome of the trial while hoping for a guilty verdict to help a potential civil suit, he said.
It wasn’t until after their attorney exerted pressure on the hospital, police and district attorney that Kennedy was arrested on Feb. 23.
“It’s very obvious in this case the nurses are now committed to using the police, the Mount Kisco police, the district attorney and the court to get money from Douglas’ family,” Gottlieb said. “That’s not right, that not why we have a criminal court.”
Gottlieb said while other nurses weighed Kennedy’s request, it was Lane’s aggressive and confrontational tone at the third-floor nurse’s station where she refused to consider letting the father and baby outside. That triggered the quick-moving chain of events, eventually leading to involvement by security. Further inflaming the situation was Lane’s decision to immobilize the elevator to prevent Kennedy from leaving the floor, then rush to the stairwell door in an attempt to block him from leaving the building, he said.
Once at the stairwell, Kennedy, holding the baby, Anthony Boru in his arms, reacted instinctively when Luciano lunged forward to try and take the baby from him, Gottlieb said. That’s when he raised his leg and made contact with Luciano, pushing her to the ground. There was no intent, he said.
Gottlieb said Lane and Luciano short-circuited Kennedy’s attempt to go through proper channels to find an attending pediatrician while it was Kennedy who remained calm throughout.
“No one even gave Douglas a chance the way the hospital wants to do it,” Gottlieb said.
But prosecutor Amy Puerto painted a far different picture during her 45-minute closing statement. Puerto said the nurses were doing their jobs while the defense has manipulated facts to explain why Kennedy chose to ignore a nurse’s order and use physical force to get his way.
If it was Kennedy’s intention to take the baby out for fresh air, he could have waited for authorization as a reasonable parent would have done. If permission was denied, most would have returned to their room.
“What you have before you is a classic case of blaming the victim,” she said.
Kennedy first tried for the elevator, and when he was denied, went for the stairs. When Luciano reached for the baby as he was heading to the stairwell, Puerto said, Kennedy kicked her hard enough to send her about eight feet across the floor. She scoffed at the defense’s claims that it was a push by saying that “it sounds like a fancy way of saying kicked.”
“It is plain and it is obvious the defendant’s mind is made up and he’s getting out of this building any way he can,” Puerto said.
“The defendant did not act responsibly,” Puerto added later on. “He’ll have you believe that Anna Lane exacerbated the situation by saying you can’t leave.”
Martin has more than 30 years experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, including a frequent focus on zoning and planning issues. He has been editor-in-chief of The Examiner since its inception in 2007. Read more from Martin’s editor-author bio here. Read Martin’s archived work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/martin-wilbur2007/
