Autopsy: Mary Kennedy died of asphyxiation due to hanging

By Michael Martinez and Rob Frehse, CNN

May 17, 2012 -- Updated 0151 GMT (0951 HKT)

Mary Kennedy, from whom Robert F. Kennedy Jr. filed for divorce in 2010, is dead, an employee of the Westchester County, New York, medical examiner's office said Wednesday.

The employee, who declined to give his name, told CNN he would provide no further details about the manner and cause of death. Kennedy was 52.

The family released a statement saying, "We deeply regret the death of our beloved sister Mary, whose radiant and creative spirit will be sorely missed by those who loved her. Our heart goes out to her children who she loved without reservation."

The Bedford Police Department earlier confirmed they were investigating a possible unattended death at an address owned by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Authorities found a deceased individual inside "an out building" on the property, police said in a statement.

Regarding her marital status at the time of her death, Mary Kennedy wasn't divorced from Robert F. Kennedy Jr., her family attorney, Kerry A. Lawrence, told CNN.

Mary Richardson Kennedy was "a tremendously gifted architect and a pioneer and relentless advocate of green design who enhanced her cutting edge, energy efficient creations with exquisite taste and style," Robert F. Kennedy's family said in a statement.

She advocated finding a cure for food allergies and asthma and was a co-founder of the Food Allergy Initiative, which is the world's largest private source of funding for food allergy research, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s family said.

"It is with deep sadness that the family of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. mourns the loss of Mary Richardson Kennedy, wife and mother of their four beloved children. Mary inspired our family with her kindness, her love, her gentle soul and generous spirit," the husband's family's statement said.

The couple married in civil ceremony in 1994 when Mary Richardson, a designer, was six months pregnant, according to the Westchester County Journal News. One month prior to the wedding, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. divorced his first wife, Emily Black, the mother of his two oldest children, the newspaper reported.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a prominent environmental lawyer who's a professor at Pace Law School in White Plains, New York, is the third of 11 children born to Ethel and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, who was assassinated when campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1968.

Details of the couple's private lives were exposed after Robert F. Kennedy Jr. filed for divorce in Westchester County on May 12, 2010.

The next evening, according to police records, Bedford police responded to a 911 call. When police arrived at the Kennedy residence they found the couple in an argument over taking their four children to a carnival at St. Patrick's School.

According to a "domestic incident" report filed by the officer on the scene, "Mr. Kennedy stated that his wife was intoxicated and was acting irrational so he took the children to the carnival to remove them from the situation."

No one was injured, the report said.

Two days later, Mary Kennedy was arrested for driving while intoxicated. At the time, Bedford Police Lt. Jeff Dickans told CNN that Mary Kennedy was arrested around 9:15 p.m. on May 15, 2010. Dickans said that a Bedford police officer saw Kennedy's 2004 Volvo swerving onto the curb of Greenwich Road in Bedford and asked her to pull over.

Kennedy had slurred speech, and a blood-alcohol content above 0.08 percent, the legal limit in New York. She was charged with driving while intoxicated.

Kerry Lawrence, Mary Kennedy's family attorney, said the case resulted in a reduction to a violation, the criminal charge was dismissed and her driver's license was suspended for 90 days.

A second arrest occured in August of the same year in the town of Pleasant Valley, in which she was charged with driving while impaired by prescription drugs, Lawrence said. Those charges were dismissed completely in July 2011 because all the drugs were prescribed and taken as her physician advised, the attorney said.

As a designer, Mary Kennedy specialized in green architecture, and in a book entitled "Kennedy Green House" and co-authored by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., he describes how he and his wife restored their flooded, black-mold-infested home into an eco-friendly residence.

In the book, her husband wrote that Mary Kennedy had worked for the design firm Parish-Hadley and worked on the renovation of the Naval Observatory in Washington, the official residence of the U.S. vice president.

"We know from a history of this family, it's very hard being a Kennedy, either being a blood Kennedy or being married to one," Laurence Leamer, a Kennedy biographer, told CNN.

Chuck Brown’s musical impact: Deep into Washington, and beyond

By Chris Richards, Thursday, May 17, 9:12 AM The Washington Post

All songs must end, but not when Chuck Brown played them.

He spent the early ’70s trying to make a name and a living, knocking out top-40 covers in District nightclubs and cabarets. One night, in an attempt to keep the dance floor from thinning out, he told his band to fill the dead air between songs with a beat. So his drummer kept the sticks moving. His percussionist kept slapping at the conga. His audience kept their heels on the parquet. His beat connected the songs.
Then, his songs connected the city.
A proud community formed around Brown’s music. He called it go-go because it wouldn’t stop. Day-Glo concert posters stapled to telephone poles in the ’80s promised 4 a.m. curfews, but Brown was happy to play his guitar past sunrise. His music endured through the dawn and through the decades, into the 21st century, but never too far outside of Washington, where he loomed so large.
“Chuck was like the Washington Monument,” says radio and television personality Donnie Simpson. “He was like Ben’s Chili Bowl. He was the big chair. He was all of that. Chuck Brown was Washington D.C. . . . People feel you when it’s genuine and Chuck was always that.”
He gave Chocolate City its own sound and made fans a part of it through call-and-response routines that would send them home hoarse. Night after night — at the Howard Theatre, at the Masonic Temple on U Street, at Kilimanjaro, at the Ebony Inn, at Pitts Red Carpet Lounge — they’d scream: “Wind me up, Chuck!” It was a plea. A prayer. An exaltation. He’d sing back in a rough, rumbling voice that was soaked in charisma.
“He was a symbol of D.C. manhood, back in the day, because of the authority that he spoke with,” says Darryl Brooks, a local promoter who worked with Brown across the decades. “He just spoke from a perspective that black men could understand.”
As go-go bloomed in the early ’80s, New York City musicians were using drum machines and turntables to mint a futuristic new sound called hip-hop. Down in Washington, Brown was sneaking Duke Ellington melodies into his urgent young music. He may have been pioneering a new funk dialect, but he kept one foot in tradition, refusing to let go of the blues licks he learned during his stay at Lorton Correctional Complex.
As the ’80s blurred into the ’90s, rap music became a global phenomenon, but go-go stayed staunchly local — and Washington anointed Brown as “the godfather.” Has American music ever produced a figure so singular? He was a man who could stop traffic in his city but could stroll down the sidewalks of the world unnoticed.
But Brown’s music would still bleed into pop music from time to time. A drum break from “Ashley’s Roachclip,” a song he released in 1974 with his band the Soul Searchers, was sampled by everyone from Ice Cube to the Geto Boys to Duran Duran. Elements of “Bustin’ Loose,” Brown’s definitive 1978 hit, were reincarnated in Nelly’s 2002 chart-topping rap single “Hot in Herre.”
Elsewhere, Brown’s musical influence was more intravenous. Competing funk bands admired him, and his sound spilled into jazz when Miles Davis snatched up Brown’s drummer in the late ’80s.
But in Washington’s go-go scene, he remained a giant who leaves no heir.
“I lost a musical mentor and very personal friend,” says “Big Tony” Fisher of go-go’s legendary Trouble Funk. “I don’t think I met anyone who made me laugh more than him and made me dance — made us dance — more than him.”
“He’s like a musical father to all of us,” says Andre “Whiteboy” Johnson, leader of veteran go-go troupe Rare Essence. “He obviously influenced generations of people — not just one — a few generations of musicians around here. I know what he wanted was to see the music get bigger and better, so that’s all we can do — just keep pushing forward and try to do him proud.”
In the ’90s, Brown expressed concern about the direction of go-go. He worried about his legacy and whether the sound would ever thrive outside of the District. But in his later years, he showed nothing but pride in his creation. As younger bands torqued his beat into more aggressive shapes, he was still quick to applaud them, grateful that go-go was still going.
The sound spanned generations, and so did Brown’s fan base. “Some people remember a Friday night in 1984. Some people remember a show from 2011,” says local R&B singer Raheem DeVaughn. “There are so many memories.” (DeVaughn also says Brown’s illness prevented the godfather from joining him and rap superstar Snoop Dogg in the studio two months ago.)
The music still courses through Washington. Even if you never dropped a bead of sweat at a Chuck Brown concert, you’ve heard his voice blasting from open car windows, at the ballpark, maybe even on a television commercial for the D.C. Lottery or Chips Ahoy.
There was a musicality to everything about the man — even his voice-mail message: “Thank you for calling, now here’s what you do/Leave your name and your number and I’ll get back to you/Have a niiiiiiiice day.”
He stretched the penultimate word out like it was music. Like it was another song that he didn’t want to end.

 

2011-12 Season in Review: Marco Belinelli

By: Calder Hynes, Hornets.com
May 14, 2012
 

Hornets.com continues its look back at the 2011-12 season with player-by-player analysis of the team:

WHAT HAPPENED
In a season defined by uncertainty, one constant for the Hornets was the presence of shooting guard Marco Belinelli. Though 11 different players missed time due to injury this season, Belinelli persevered through minor ailments and the compact schedule to play in all 66 games while starting a team-high 55 contests including one game at small forward and the first start of his career at point guard.

“He plays the right way. He takes big shots, he’s playing hurt. That’s the thing I love about him. All the guys around the league sitting out because of their bumps and bruises, but that kid just keeps playing,” said Monty Williams of Belinelli’s toughness.

The Italian marksman’s second campaign in the Big Easy was truly a career year, which saw him average career-bests in points (11.8) and rebounds (2.6) while setting single-game career marks across the board in points, field goals made, three-pointers made, free throws made, rebounds, assists, steals and minutes. After playing for three teams in his first four seasons, it was obvious the 26-year-old welcomed the familiarity that returning to New Orleans brought with it.

“This is the second year I have played for coach Monty and I feel more comfortable in his system (than last year). I love coach Monty and the other coaches here. They have worked with me to develop a lot in the last two seasons. It has been lucky for me this year to play a lot of minutes and I am trying to produce and do whatever the team needs.”

Known for his shooting and scoring abilities, Belinelli didn’t disappoint, leading the team with 107 three-pointers made (tied for 16th-most in the NBA), including a stretch of 15 consecutive games with a triple between March 26 and April 19. As players shuffled in and out around him, Marco took advantage of the extended minutes afforded him by injuries (notably to Eric Gordon) to lead the team in scoring 10 times and rebounding twice while scoring in double-figures a team-best 44 times including nine games of 20-plus points.

Williams: “Marco’s been a stud for us this year. He’s one of the toughest kids I know. He’s certainly erased all doubts about his game.”

BEST GAME
Marco’s best game may have actually been two games, both victories against the Golden State Warriors on the road that bookended a 9-7 stretch for the team between March 28 and April 24 as the season was winding down. In the two trips against his former club in Oakland this season, Belinelli averaged 22.5 points, 5.0 assists and 3.0 steals on 66.7 percent shooting (18-27) while going 6-7 from distance. In the first contest, he tied a career high with six assists, leading Williams to reflect on his overall contribution.

"Marco was outstanding tonight shooting the ball, getting guys involved. It really looks good and feels good when guys go out there and play the right way and you get the win."

Also worth noting, despite coming in a loss, was Belinelli’s season-high 27 point performance March 29 at Portland on the strength of a Hornets individual season-high seven three-pointers. The 27-point outburst was the third-highest point total by a New Orleans player this season.

WHAT’S NEXT
After signing a qualifying offer prior to the season, Belinelli is now an unrestricted free agent, meaning he is free to sign with any club. This will be the first time in his career he has gone through unrestricted free agency, an exciting but sometimes stressful time for players. Marco will find comfort in knowing that at least one coach around the league believes in his abilities.

HORNETS INVITE FANS OUT FOR HORNETS DAY AT THE AQUARIUM

Hornets Head Coach Monty Williams, assistant coaches to make appearances


The Hornets have teamed up with Audubon Nature Institute to host the Hornets Day at the Audubon Aquarium of Americas (1 Canal Street) on Sunday, May 20 from 10:00 a.m. to noon (doors open at 10:00 a.m.). This fun-filled day will feature appearances by Hornets Head Coach Monty Williams, Assistant Coaches James Borrego, Dave Hanners, Bryan Gates and Fred Vinson, as well as Hugo and the Honeybees.

Hornets season ticket holders were e-mailed a coupon to receive a discount at the gate on Aquarium admission of $5 off each regular adult ticket and $4 off regular children’s admission.

Hornets Emcee Rob Nice will host a Q&A with Williams and the Hornets Buzz Patrol will be on-hand as the Hornets will host a Tattoo Parlor, Bee-Hive Hair Salon and inflatable games for kids of all ages.

Syria nears ceasefire deadline under Annan plan

On Wednesday, Syria said it would abide by the ceasefire but reserved the right to respond to attacks.
The US said Syria's pledge held "little if any credibility".
The main armed rebel group said it would not stop shooting if government troops continued to attack.
Mr Annan received written assurances from the Syrian foreign ministry that government troops would "cease all military fighting throughout Syrian territory as of 06:00 (03:00 GMT)... while reserving the right to respond proportionately to any attacks carried out by armed terrorist groups", his spokesman, Ahmad Fawzi said.

'Regime won't stop'

Meanwhile, the violence continued on Wednesday, especially in the city of Homs.
Activists said at least 30 people were killed in offensives around the country, including the north and north-west, a valley west of Damascus, and in the south, near Deraa.
A spokesman for the main rebel force, the Free Syrian Army (FSA), said the ceasefire was unlikely to take effect because neither side would stop shooting.

Footage purporting to show clashes in Homs on Wednesday has been posted online

"If the other side stopped, the Syrian people would march on the president's palace on the same day. This means the regime won't stop," Captain Ayham al-Kurdi said in a BBC interview on the Turkey-Syria border.
The BBC's UN correspondent, Barbara Plett, says Mr Annan has been in contact with Iran, as well as Russia, asking them to use their influence.
If he fails, some Council members have said they will push for tougher action - not military intervention, but perhaps sanctions, our correspondent says.
However, there is no guarantee Russia and China would agree; they have already vetoed two Security Council resolutions on Syria.
Mr Annan is due to brief the UN Security Council later on Thursday.
The UN estimates about 9,000 people have died since anti-government protests began in March 2011. In February, the Syrian government put the death toll at 3,838 - 2,493 civilians and 1,345 security forces personnel.

Indian Ocean tsunami alert lifted after Aceh quake

A tsunami watch declared after two major earthquakes off the coast of Indonesia's Aceh province has now been cancelled, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PWTC) says.

Two hours after the quakes - one with a magnitude of 8.6, the other measuring 8.3 - the centre says "the threat has diminished or is over for most areas".
The alerts caused panic as people fled buildings and made for high ground.
There have been no immediate reports of damage or casualties.
India, Thailand and Sri Lanka have also lifted their own tsunami warnings
A PTWC alert said that sea level readings indicated a tsunami was generated and that it "may already have been destructive along some coasts," without specifying where.
A Thai disaster official said a 10cm wave had been recorded on Koh Miang island, off Phang Nga.
Earlier, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said the authorities were remaining "vigilant", despite the lack of tsunami reports.
"Our warning system is working well, and I have ordered the national relief team to fly immediately to Aceh to ensure the situation is under control and to take any necessary action," he said.

The alerts caused panic in Aceh province, as people fled from buildings

A few hours later, the PTWC renewed its warning after a major aftershock measuring 8.2 struck 16km (10 miles) beneath the ocean floor and 615km from Banda Aceh.
An AFP correspondent in Banda Aceh said the second aftershock lasted four minutes.
The PTWC issues advisory alerts across the region, which state authorities can use to issue their own emergency procedures. Indonesia straddles the Pacific Ring of Fire, a zone of major seismic activity.

'Minute of chaos'

Sutopo, a spokesman for Indonesia's disaster mitigation agency, said electricity had been cut in Aceh and there were traffic jams to access higher ground.
"Sirens and Koran recitals from mosques are everywhere," he told Reuters.
Tremors were felt as far away as Singapore, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Bangladesh and India. The French island of Reunion was also on alert.


"There was a tremor felt by all of us working in the building," a man called Vincent in Calcutta, India, told the BBC.
"All just ran out of the building and people were asked not to use the elevator. There was a minute of chaos where all started ringing up to their family and asking about their well-being."
Tsunami warning sirens, set up in many vulnerable areas after the 2004 disaster, were heard in Phuket, Thailand, where correspondents said people were calmly following evacuation routes to safe zones.
Roger Musson, a seismologist from the British Geological Survey, said the quakes were unlike those seen off Indonesia in recent years, where ground had been pushed under the continental plate, "flipping up" the seabed.
"It seems to be a large earthquake within the Indian Plate and the plate has broken in a sort of lateral way," he said.
"It's a sort of tearing earthquake, and this is much less likely to cause a tsunami because it's not displacing large volumes of water."

Are you in the area affected by the earthquake? You can get in touch with the BBC using the form below:

Read

1. 1: Aceh quake triggers tsunami alert
2. 2: China call amid Bo Xilai fall-out
3. 3: Apple 'tackling Trojan invasion'
4. 4: Has Instagram made everyone's photos look the same?
5. 5: Gibb too ill for Titanic concert
6. 6: Is Firefox's future under threat?
7. 7: In pictures: Indonesia Aceh quake
8. 8: AU urges South Sudan withdrawal
9. 9: Sumatra alive to quake risks
10. 10: WWII resistance hero Aubrac dies

Tulsa shooting suspects confessed

(CNN) -- The 19-year-old Tulsa, Oklahoma, man whose Facebook page lamented his father's death "at the hands of a f--king n----r" told investigators he shot three of the African-Americans injured or killed in a Friday shooting spree, according to police documents.

Fellow suspect Alvin Watts confessed to shooting the other two people, according to the documents, which include only summaries of the reported confessions and few details.

Based on his statement, police believe Watts pulled the trigger in two of the three fatal shootings, according to the documents.

A police spokesman declined to comment Tuesday when asked about the reported confessions.

Authorities accuse the pair of gunning down apparent strangers at four different locations in a largely African-American section of Tulsa early Friday.

Authorities identified the victims as Dannaer Fields, William Allen and Bobby Clark. The other two shooting victims survived.

Police arrested Watts, 19, and Jake England, 33, early Sunday after tips led investigators to England's burned pickup. The vehicle matched one reported at the crime scenes, according to the arrest reports.

A judge ordered England and Watts held Monday on $9.16 million bond each pending formal charges on allegations of murder, shooting with intent to kill and gun possession.

Police reports characterize both men as white, but authorities have declined to say whether they think race played a role in the shootings.

An update posted to England's Facebook page the day before the shootings noted it was the second anniversary of his father's death "at the hands of a f--king n----r." The entry also mentioned his girlfriend's recent suicide.

Prosecutors will review whether hate crime charges are appropriate against England and Watts, Tulsa County District Attorney Tim Harris said Monday.

"If the motivation is racial in this case, then that needs to be vetted in a court of law just like any others," Harris said. "It's the law of the state of Oklahoma, and if the facts and the evidence support that, then we're going to go forward with it."

Police Chief Chuck Jordan described England and Watts as apparently close friends who shared a home in Tulsa.

One survivor of Friday's shootings, Deon Tucker, told reporters Monday that he was standing on his porch when a white pickup pulled up and the driver asked him for directions.

"Next thing I know, they start shooting," he said.

"What are they shooting me for? I ain't got no enemies. I didn't know what was going on," recalled Tucker, who said he was shot once in the chest.

He added that he understands that his race might have led to his shooting. But Tucker said he simply "got caught in the wrong spot" and isn't "mad at anybody," describing his shooter as a "lunatic."

On Friday, a friend had warned England not to "do anything stupid" after he posted a message Friday, apparently after the shootings, that read "It just mite be the time to call it quits."

"I hate to say it like that but I'm done if something does happen tonite be ready for another funeral later," England wrote.

"It's hard not to go off between that and sheran I'm gone in the head," he wrote, referring to his girlfriend.

The Facebook page was taken down Sunday afternoon.

"If that boy done this, there's no excuse for it," KTUL quoted Watts as saying. "I just want to apologize to those families. My heart goes out to them."

A man who identified himself as England's uncle -- speaking Monday outside the suspects' home -- said his nephew had been troubled by the recent suicide of his girlfriend and his father's death in April 2010.

"His mind couldn't take it anymore, I guess," the man said. "I guess it just snapped his mind."

Prosecutors declined to file homicide charges in the death of England's father, ruling it a justifiable homicide, the Tulsa County District Attorney's Office said in a statement Monday.

England and Watts remained jailed Tuesday pending an April 16 arraignment. Meanwhile, prosecutors prepared formal charges against the pair.

While Harris declined to say Monday if hate crime charges would be included, City Councilor Jack Henderson said the online posts and the circumstances of the shootings lead him to believe that the shooters targeted their victims chiefly because of race.

"You have an individual -- a white male -- going into a predominantly black community (to) shoot at black people. And with the other evidence ... and some of the things that were said, that leads me to believe that this was totally a hate crime," Henderson said.

Tulsa was the scene of a 1921 race riot -- considered one of the worst in the nation -- that destroyed the famed Greenwood District, a wealthy black enclave known as the black Wall Street.

Harris said the community's response to the shootings said more about current race relations in Tulsa than the shootings should.

"This community will not be defined by the treacherous, evil crimes of two individuals," he said. "That's not what Tulsa, Oklahoma, is about, and that's not what our people are about," he said. "The fact that this community drew together as one to stop this threat is what Tulsa is all about."

CNN's Maria P. White and Jason Carroll contributed to this report.