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American Morning

Prosecution Will Not Call Thomas Skakel

Aired May 14, 2002 - 09:06   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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: "Up Front" this morning, did Michael Skakel's former tutor confess to murdering Martha Moxley? Well Skakel, as you know, is now on trial for allegedly killing his teenage neighbor in 1975. But in court yesterday, defense lawyers tried to show that Ken Littleton, once a suspect in the case, could have done it. The alleged confession was just part of a wild ride on the witness stand for Littleton, who called Moxley's murder a tragedy for him.

Deborah Feyerick has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The summer after Martha Moxley was killed, Ken Littleton says his life went "down the tubes." He lost his job teaching at a prestigious Connecticut prep school and began having problems with drugs and alcohol. He says he believes Greenwich police targeted him as a suspect because he was the only one in the Skakel house giving them any information.

EUGENE RICCO, KEN LITTLETON'S ATTORNEY: The conduct of the police toward Kenneth Littleton has been a substantial factor in the deterioration of his life.

FEYERICK: Littleton, who did tutoring and baby-sitting on the side, moved in with the Skakels the night Moxley was killed. A key suspect in the murder for two decades, he testified during examination he never met Martha, never knew who she was. Littleton says the night she was killed he went outside briefly to check on a suspicious noise. When he heard a rustling in the bushes he says he got spooked, going back inside to watch a movie.

Littleton appears to have spent most of his life searching for what happened; calling Martha's father 10 years after she died, offering to take a truth serum if Mr. Moxley would pay. Littleton says he wanted to see if he had any buried information in his mind that might break the case. Mr. Moxley never took him up on his offer.

Littleton was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in the mid 80s. Later, in an attempt to clear his name, he went back to the police and met with one of its psychiatrists. In testimony, he said he told the psychiatrist he stabbed Martha Moxley through the neck. But the alleged admission, he says, was an idea planted by his ex-wife. She testified she wanted to clear her husband. And so working with police and a hidden tape recorder, she told him he had confessed to her during a drunken blackout, hoping to elicit a denial from him. Now, she says, none of what she told him was true.

MICKEY SHERMAN, SKAKEL'S ATTORNEY: It demonstrates the nature of the prosecution. I just think the jury is aware of the lengths to which the state has gone in the past to put somebody in that defendant's chair.

FEYERICK: Littleton did not know until last week that he had been set up by police or that those conversations had been taped.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FEYERICK: A longtime suspect will not take the stand today as expected. Prosecutors, deciding late yesterday not to call Michael's brother Tommy to the stand. The reason is Tommy Skakel's lawyer would give no clue as to what Tommy Skakel would say. A source says that prosecutors went back over all of his testimony over the last two and a half decades, but they decided that rather than they call him, they're going to let Michael's side call him, if they call him at all.

Right after the murder of Martha Moxley, Tommy Skakel did cooperate with police. He even took two polygraph tests and he passed both of those tests. But then he got a lawyer and a lot of the information dried up. A later report does have Tommy Skakel changing his story a little bit. And it's a story that we hope to hear today. It looks like we're not going to -- Paula.

ZAHN: All right. Deborah Feyerick, thanks so much for the update.

And joining us now to talk a little bit more about the Skakel trial, yesterday's bizarre testimony of Kenneth Littleton, and the new decision not to call Thomas Skakel as a prosecution witness, CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin, who is outside the courthouse in Norwalk, Connecticut as well -- good morning, Jeffrey.

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Hi, Paula.

ZAHN: So we just heard Deborah's analysis of why the prosecution won't be calling Thomas Skakel. Why would he be a better witness for the defense? I guess that is what James (ph) Benedict has said, who is the state's attorney.

TOOBIN: Well it's sort of hard to -- there are two ways you can look at the prosecution's decision. On one hand, it might be a sign of confidence, that they thought that Ken Littleton, for all his eccentricity, did establish that both Littleton himself and Tommy Skakel have an alibi for the time of the murder, so there's no need to call Tommy.

On the other hand, they may just not want to take the risk. After all, this is the defendant's brother; they are still close. He has not cooperated for more than 25 years with the prosecution. So they don't want to take the risk not knowing what he's going to say. I think it is probably unbalanced, good for the defense, that he is not taking the stand because it leaves him out there as kind of a mystery.

ZAHN: All right. Ken Littleton was put on the stand yesterday as a prosecution witness, and we heard just some of the twists and turns in his testimony from Deborah's piece. In the end, was that a smart move by the prosecution?

TOOBIN: Well I think they had to do it. He's a central figure in the case, and you can't keep that information from the jury. But, boy, I've been in a lot of courtrooms, Paula, and that was one of the most bizarre days I have ever spent anywhere. I mean to listen the stories he was telling about how in 1982 he was arrested for drunk and disorderly on the 16th floor of a building giving JFK's "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech. And when he was arrested, he gave the name Kenny Kennedy, the black sheep, he said, of the Kennedy family.

I mean it really did show that he had mental problems and that he was somewhat obsessed with the Kennedy family. And, also, I mean this confession on tape, when he says to the interviewer in 1982, "I said I did it," I mean I was looking at the jury. Some of them, their eyes bugged out. I mean it was -- it sure sounded like he had confessed.

Now whether he actually did or not, I don't know. But that's pretty good defense evidence.

ZAHN: Now what is his wife saying then? That he never really did confess to her during this period where he was set up by her and some investigators?

TOOBIN: That's right. I mean she's giving very good prosecution testimony today, saying that, you know, he never confessed on or off camera, on or off the tape recorder. And he -- and this information about his so-called confession during a blackout, she says she planted in his mind. But I mean, you know, the juror might say, well, how can you plan a confession in someone's mind?

You know I think the prosecution, with the ex-wife's testimony, is making the best of a bad situation. But it is still a bad situation for them.

ZAHN: And you said there was a noticeable reaction on the jurors' part, but they're going to be listening to a lot of odd testimony. Is it too early to read any great importance into what appear to be gasping on some of the jurors' parts?

TOOBIN: You know I have learned real lessons in humility in predicting what jurors are reacting. I can only tell you how they look, and most jurors just absorb information stony faced. And so I don't want to read too much into it.

I did notice on a couple of jurors -- not all the jurors -- that their eyes were widening seeing an alternative suspect essentially confess to the crime. What that means, at this point in the trial, it's still -- we're probably not even halfway through the prosecutions case, maybe a little farther than that. I can't say.

ZAHN: So in spite of the great theatrics witness yesterday, the bottom line is indeed Michael Skakel, who is on trial. Was there anything in the Kenneth Littleton testimony that would have bolstered the prosecutions case, other than this alibi -- what appears to be, I guess at this point, as ironclad as you can get?

TOOBIN: Well I think he was helpful to the prosecution in, at this key moment around the times when the dogs were barking, he says that he and Tommy Skakel, two alternative suspects, were watching "The French Connection." That is very good evidence for the prosecution. But it's worth pointing out that even though it takes other suspects out, it really doesn't put Michael Skakel anywhere near the murder.

I mean it doesn't say anything about what Michael did, so -- and that remains a tremendous gap in the prosecutions case at this point; any evidence about Michael doing the murder. But it is helpful to the prosecution that he was very emphatic -- that is, Ken Littleton was -- that he and Tommy were nowhere near -- or nowhere the murder scene at the time of the crime.

ZAHN: All right. But then we've got just about 10 seconds left. When he was asked specifically about Tommy Skakel, didn't he refuse to answer some of those questions, Ken Littleton?

TOOBIN: Well not really. I mean he just said -- he answered everything he knew. But Tommy Skakel was only with him about 15 minutes. He said, "We were only watching the chase scene together." So that does leave Tommy some time potentially to have been near or involved in the murder.

ZAHN: All right.

TOOBIN: So it's not a total alibi for Tommy.

ZAHN: All right. Keep us posted.

TOOBIN: OK.

ZAHN: We'll be relying on you in the many days to come to keep us abreast of what's happening there in the courtroom. Thanks Jeffrey, have a good day.

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