Rehearsal for an Inquest

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Last week's hearing could not avoid the bizarre touches that have marred the case from the beginning. Skindiver John Farrar, who recovered Mary Jo's body from the submerged car, turned up with a lawyer who promptly distributed full biographies of himself and his client to reporters. When Dr. Mills claimed that Dinis was to blame for not ordering an immediate autopsy after the accident, Dinis took the stand to testify that he had indeed wanted an autopsy. But, said he, by the time he had decided to order one the day after Mary Jo's death, he was informed that the body had been flown back to Pennsylvania. Actually, the body was still waiting in a plane at the Martha's Vineyard airport.

After the hearing—which ended with Judge Brominski reserving a decision —Dinis continued to defend himself. He questioned Dr. Mills' character and honesty, claiming "he's shirked his responsibility and tried to push it off onto us." Replying to the argument that he is acting out of personal ambition or malice toward the Kennedys, Dinis told TIME'S Greg Wierzynski: "Politically, this is not good for me. It cannot do anyone any good to be involved. This is the home state of the Kennedys, and they are loved. How can anyone who is involved in prosecuting or investigating them come out with any advantage? A vendetta against the Kennedys? Ridiculous!" His fulminations aside, Dinis was following respectable legal procedure in seeking the autopsy —though he could have saved both Kennedy and the Kopechnes much grief by ordering the examination on the day of the death, while the body was still in his jurisdiction.