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CNN Live At Daybreak

Jury Will Begin Deliberating Fate of Michael Skakel

Aired June 04, 2002 - 05:31   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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: In Norwalk, Connecticut this morning a jury will begin deliberating the fate of Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel. As you know, he's on trial for the 1975 murder of Martha Moxley.

Our Deborah Feyerick wraps up the case that went to the jury late yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In closing arguments, Michael Skakel's lawyer had a strong message for the jury.

MICKEY SHERMAN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: He didn't do it. He doesn't know who did. He wasn't there. He never confessed.

FEYERICK: As he has throughout the month-long trial, Mickey Sherman again pointed out there's no physical, no forensic evidence. And that the alleged motive, jealousy over his brother's relationship with Martha Moxley, was sketchy at best.

SHERMAN: They played investigative musical chairs. First they tried to see if that chair fit Tommy Skakel. They brought an arrest warrant for him. Then they went to Ken Littleton. God knows who else they want. And when the music stops, Michael Skakel is sitting in the defendant's chair.

FEYERICK: Skakel's lawyer warned jurors they may feel compelled to help the Moxley family get closure. "But," he repeated, "Michael Skakel didn't do it."

Prosecutors, in their closing arguments, relied on Michael Skakel's own words placing him at the crime scene. Tape recordings taken for his book proposal. In it Skakel himself seems to undermine his own alibi, saying he remembers that his sister's friend had gone home. Something which happened after he supposedly left to go to his cousin's house.

JONATHAN BENEDICT, PROSECUTOR: He would not have known that Andrea had been taken home yet, because the alibi ride in the car had left before Andrea Shakespeare (ph) and Julie Skakel had gone on their little journey across town.

FEYERICK: Though Skakel never links himself to the Moxley murder, prosecutors show Skakel seems to describe taken a path (ph), placing him at the major points of the crime scene. From the front of the Moxley home, where she was first hit, to the trees toward which Skakel said he was throwing rocks after hearing a noise. "The motion," said the prosecutor, "like someone hitting another person with a golf club."

The prosecutor argued Skakel concocted this story fearing he may have left DNA evidence behind or that someone may have seen him.

(on camera): The prosecutor said that Michael Skakel insinuates on the tape that he may even have taken the piece of the missing golf club, the murder weapon, to bed with him that night. And when Skakel says he panicked when Mrs. Moxley came to the door looking for Martha, the prosecutor said, "Only someone who saw Martha under the tree could feel that way."

Deborah Feyerick, CNN, Norwalk, Connecticut.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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