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Tutor May Have Suggested Skakel Family Vacation After Moxley Murder

Aired May 13, 2002 - 11:26   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Also a lot of people working hard in the field, including our Deborah Feyerick and her crew, who are covering the latest on the Skakel trial out of Norwalk, Connecticut -- Deb, good morning. A tutor -- a key tutor and key witness on the stand today.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He is on the stand and he's being cross-examined. An interesting thing that came out in the trial in the last hour is that for a very long time prosecutors have said that they believe the Skakel family tried covering up their role in the murder of Martha Moxley. And one of the ways they did this, allegedly, was by taking the kids out of town the day of the murder -- the day after the murder, I should say, and taking them to a vacation house up in Wyndham (ph), New York.

For a long time, everyone thought it was the lawyer's idea to kind of spirit the kids away. Now it turns out that it may have been the tutor who made that suggestion to go to the vacation house. Ken Littleton is on the stand; he is being cross-examined. Remember he was long considered a suspect, but he was never charged in this. There simply was never enough evidence linking him to any crime.

Now he does describe the night of the murder. He says it was very cold, it was unusually still. At about 9:30 in the evening he was upstairs in his room watching "The French Connection," and then one of the nannies came up because she said she heard a noise outside and she was a little frightened. So she wanted him to go and check it out.

He did that; he walked to the end of the driveway. And he said that he did hear some rustling. He didn't know whether it was an animal or it whether it was several kids. And because he got spooked, he went back inside the house.

One thing he did say is, "I never saw Martha Moxley before, during or after the night of October, 1975." He said the first time he even saw her was in a photograph. Now the tutor again has said that while he does think he may have suggested taking the kids to Wyndham (ph), remember it was his first weekend at the house, and he has a feeling or a sense that perhaps it was the lawyers who suggested this.

The judge is very good. He keeps pointing out that when there are discrepancies in testimony the jury should not be paying attention necessarily to the fact of the statement that as to whether the witness himself is credible. And that's something he keeps informing the jury, as the defense does its cross-examination. The judge has not decided whether to let in either tapes or wiretaps of conversations he had with a wife and a psychiatrist -- Daryn.

KAGAN: As this trial goes on, is Michael Skakel expected to take the stand in his own defense at any point?

FEYERICK: No one knows that yet. And his lawyer says, "Well, we're not quite sure now." But a lot of experts you speak to say it would not be a wise thing to put Michael Skakel on the stand.

His brother Tommy, again, also considered a suspect, he is expected to take the stand perhaps as early as tomorrow. This will be the first time that the brother Tommy Skakel will be telling his story publicly.

KAGAN: That will be some fascinating testimony. Deborah Feyerick in Norwalk, thank you so much.

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