Smith Says Prosecutor Is ‘Incompetent’ : Trial: Assistant state attorney claims defense has violated gag order in Kennedy rape case. Judge orders names of potential jurors withheld.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. —  William Kennedy Smith, facing trial on a rape charge, called the prosecutor “walking proof” of incompetence Thursday after she accused his defense team of trying to “manipulate” press coverage.

“Anybody of any age can be incompetent . . . I feel Moira (K.) Lasch is walking proof of it,” Smith said during a lunch break in a scathing reference to the assistant state attorney.

Lasch earlier had complained in court that the Kennedy team in recent days had violated the spirit of a partial gag order in the case by conducting curbside interviews and making available to the press a family publicist, jury-selection experts, lawyers and family members to portray Smith in a more favorable light.

Lasch entered into the court records recent newspaper articles describing how the Kennedy team has given reporters details about Smith’s new puppy, his touch-football playing and the expenses he will be forced to bear because of the case. The defense team had even changed the name they use for Smith--to Will from Willie--to present a more sober and adult image, she said.

The clash between prosecution and defense was an outgrowth of an unsuccessful defense effort to dismiss more than 20 potential jurors and to bar TV cameras from the courtroom because of media attention that had focused on Palm Beach, Fla., widow Florence Orbach, 78, after Orbach offered a free-wheeling commentary on the Kennedys’ peccadilloes during a courtroom interview Tuesday. Florida Circuit Court Judge Mary E. Lupo dismissed her on Wednesday, calling her a “walking mistrial.”

On Thursday, in a highly unusual ruling, Lupo ordered the identities of prospective jurors hidden, and scolded some “unscrupulous” members of the press for trying to contact Orbach while she was still a potential juror. A number of news and entertainment organizations, including Paramount Pictures’ “Hard Copy” tabloid TV show, reportedly had called Orbach.

The ruling came in the second week of jury selection in the case. Smith, the nephew of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), is accused of raping a 30-year-old Jupiter, Fla., woman at the family estate on March 30.

Lupo said the names and addresses of jury pool members would be withheld until a jury is chosen and sequestered later this month. “I have no alternative,” said the judge. “There is a danger to the defendant’s right to a fair trial.”

During the emergency hearing Thursday morning, the judge ordered bailiffs to investigate the calls and threatened to revoke the press credentials of the organizations found to be involved.

Lasch said Thursday that she had moved to exclude Orbach because of the elderly widow’s “incompetence.” At lunchtime, Smith told reporters he felt sympathy for Orbach’s situation, and in turn questioned Lasch’s competence.

During the morning hearing, Roy Black, the lead defense counsel, said the calls to Orbach represented a “direct attack on the order and dignity of this case.” He argued that the incident was part of a pattern demonstrating that TV coverage did have a different effect on the proceeding than coverage by print news media.

That was shown, he said, by Orbach’s reaction to the TV coverage of her appearance. Black noted that Orbach told the judge Wednesday, “I feel so horrible that I made a clown of myself on TV. I thought I would die.”

And Black noted that another prospective juror, Leah Haller, had told the judge she was glad to have been warned in advance that the interview was being televised. To argue that TV coverage is not different in effect from print media coverage “just belies common sense . . . ,” Black said.

Black suggested that the television presence might also have been a factor in provoking one juror to lie to be included on the panel.

One prospective juror had been dismissed from the pool for allegedly lying during a screening interview, it was disclosed, but the judge offered no details.

In resisting the defense motions, Lasch contended, “You can’t have an attorney claim error, when you are in the process of creating error.”

Lawyers said the calls to Orbach were not likely to bring any punishment, since news organizations were not under court order barring them from calling jury pool members.

The clash over the news media’s role in the case seemed likely to reignite a running debate about the conflicting rights of free press and fair trial that has been carried on intermittently during the highly publicized trial. It also may give more ammunition to the defense if it ever argues on appeal that pervasive publicity made it impossible for Smith to receive an impartial trial.