Edmund Dinis, prosecutor in Chappaquiddick scandal, dies at 85 in Massachusetts
By APTuesday, March 16, 2010
Chappaquiddick prosecutor dies in Mass. at 85
DARTMOUTH, Mass. — Edmund Dinis (duh-NEEZ’), the former district attorney who oversaw the investigation into the late Sen. Edward Kennedy’s involvement in the Chappaquiddick case, has died at age 85.
Henry Arruda, general manager of the radio station Dinis owned, says the former prosecutor died Sunday at an assisted-living center in Dartmouth, Mass.
Dinis was voted out of office in 1970, the year after Kennedy’s car went off a Martha’s Vineyard bridge into a pond with campaign worker Mary Jo Kopechne inside. Kennedy swam to safety, leaving Kopechne in the car.
Kennedy pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident and got a suspended sentence and probation.
Some thought Dinis was too hard on Kennedy, while others thought he let the senator escape punishment. Arruda says the case proved to be Dinis’ “political demise.”
