Palm Beach police have completed their investigation into whether Kennedy family members or retainers obstructed the initial probe of a rape charge against William Kennedy Smith, the Boston Herald reported Thursday.

The newspaper, citing unnamed sources close to the prosecution, said the Palm Beach police department had recently finished its four-month investigation and had turned over its findings to State Attorney David Bludworth.The newspaper did not report any findings of the probe.

Under Florida law Bludworth, the equivalent of a district attorney, can unilaterally pursue criminal charges, present the evidence to a grand jury or chose not to prosecute.

Since a charge of obstructing a law enforcement officer without violence is a misdemeanor in Florida, grand jury review would be highly unusual, the Herald quoted a former Bludworth subordinate now practicing as a defense attorney as saying.

About a dozen people were at the Kennedy family's Florida compound last Easter weekend when a woman said she was raped March 30 by William Smith after they took a walk on the beach.

Smith, 30, is a nephew of U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass. Kennedy and another nephew, Rhode Island legislator Patrick Kennedy, were among those staying at the mansion.

Police have declined to rule out the possibility that obstruction charges might be brought against any of the people at the compound that weekend, including the senator.

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