Gerstman Schwartz & Wink Founding Partner David Schwartz in New York Post Today:
From the NY Post:
Two nurses say a healthy dose of money and a public apology on the “Today” show will help cure the “pain and suffering’’ they’ve endured since Douglas Kennedy moved his newborn son out of their hospital, The Post has learned.
But that’s not enough for Cari Luciano and Anna Lane. Their proposal also includes a weird demand that Kennedy, a Fox News Channel reporter, spend two weeks collecting garbage.
The son of slain Sen. Robert Kennedy was charged with child endangerment and physical harassment after an altercation with the nurses when he took the infant, Bo, out of the maternity ward at Northern Westchester Hospital on Jan. 7.
The case centers on whether he was authorized to do so.
“Douglas is confident that he will be fully exonerated at trial. He had no interest in making any kind of deal,” a Kennedy friend said. “This proposal smacked of a shakedown.”
Kennedy has pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor count of child endangerment and two counts of harassment, which are violations. He is scheduled to go to trial Oct. 22 in Mount Kisco.
In a secret March 19 “settlement proposal” drafted by Luciano and Lane’s lawyer, Elliott Taub, and obtained by The Post, the nurses offered to withdraw their allegations — for a price.
Taub wants “a monetary settlement to each nurse the sum of which is to be agreed upon and paid, commensurate with each nurse’s physical and psychological injuries, pain and suffering, and particularly posttraumatic stress disorders.
“The nurses,” Taub said, “agree to keep this settlement amount strictly confidential.”
The deal would force Kennedy to plead guilty to “some charge in exchange for the nurses withdrawing their criminal complaints . . . with a sentence or penalty of community service to be set by the DA and/or Court — preferably collecting garbage daily in Mount Kisco or Chappaqua for at least two weeks,” said Taub, who did not respond to a request for comment.
The plan also demands Kennedy donate to a children’s health fund.
Moreover, it would require Kennedy, who has five children, to publicly apologize to the nurses on the “Today” show for his actions, including allegedly twisting the arm of one nurse and kicking the other.
Kennedy rejected the deal.
A spokesman for Westchester County DA Janet Fiore declined to comment. But a source close to the case said there was “not even a hint” of plea bargaining.
A former Brooklyn prosecutor criticized the nurses’ attempts to settle the case for a price.
It’s wrong,’’ said David Schwartz, who is not involved in the case.
“You can’t exchange a quid pro quo of this magnitude. It’s a play for money, and they’re not going about it the right way.”
It’s the prosecutor who determines whether to pursue the case or accept a plea, he added.
Read more from NY Post..
Here’s video from the nurse’s appearance on NBC’s Today:
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