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CNN Live Today

Skakel Jury Wants More Information

Aired June 06, 2002 - 13:58   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.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: To the other trial that we are watching -- this is the Michael Skakel trial, the trial for the murder. He is being tried right now for the murder of Martha Moxley years ago.

Our Jeffrey Toobin is in New York. I haven't had a chance to listen in to too much of that testimony there because we haven't had it here. But Jeffrey Toobin has been, standing by there, in New York, listening in.

As I understand it, Jeffrey, the jury there, they haven't broken up, or they are still continuing their deliberations. But they are asking for some more replays of other testimony or instructions or something.

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN ANALYST: They are. In fact, it's been a very busy morning for the jury, and some very significant questions. The two things they asked for today were they wanted to hear part of the prosecutor's, Jonathan Benedict's, summation read back to them. And perhaps most significantly, they wanted to hear the jury instructions regarding the definitions of guilt and innocence.

Both of those lead me to conclude -- and I could be wrong, to be sure -- but it certainly sounds like wrapping up of deliberations. Those are the kind of questions jurors ask when they have sort of heard as much evidence as they want, heard as many read-backs as they want, and are really starting to get down to brass tacks. Whether that's true or not, I don't know, but that's certainly the way it looks.

HARRIS: Actually, I'm a layman here. That would actually make sense to me because in the previous days couple days here, they have been asking to have replayed for them, or actually reread to them, portions of other testimony. Here they are talking about things that happened specifically there at the end of the trial.

TOOBIN: Exactly. And interestingly, the question of whether the judge will read back the prosecutor's summation is not clear. That varies by jurisdiction. In some...

HARRIS: Why is that?

TOOBIN: Because when the lawyers talk to the jury, in opening statement, in a summation, it's not evidence. It's commentary on the evidence. Some judges say we don't want to read back something to the jury that's not evidence. So the defense is arguing very strongly Mickey Sherman, Michael Skakel's lawyer, is saying don't read it back, because it's not something the jury should consider at this point. The judge hasn't decided that at this point.

HARRIS: Even if what they said in court is actually entered into the record of the court?

TOOBIN: The fact that it's said in court doesn't mean it's evidence to be considered. And judges instruct juries about that all the time. For example, the questions that lawyers ask, that's not evidence; it's only the answers that are evidence. And that is the reason Mickey Sherman is saying it shouldn't be read back to the jury.

I don't know how the judge is going to decide this. Different judges decide it different ways, different jurisdictions decide this thing different ways. It's a fairly common request that jurors have: We would like to hear one of the summations again. But sometimes they are allowed to hear it, and sometimes they are not.

HARRIS: Interesting. So we could be getting very close there? All right...

TOOBIN: We could be.

HARRIS: OK, Jeffrey Toobin, we will let you go.

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