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CNN Live At Daybreak

Michael Skakel Expected to Speak Out in His Own Defense Today

Aired August 29, 2002 - 05:05   ET

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

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Michael Skakel is expected to speak out in his own defense at his sentencing hearing today.
CNN's Deborah Feyerick reports the victim's mother was a key prosecution witness yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Michael Skakel headed back to a high security prison. He had changed out of the dark suit he wore in court and back into his khaki prison uniform. It was an emotional day for the 41-year-old Kennedy cousin as he listened to the mother of Martha Moxley, the girl he's convicted of beating to death with a golf club, tell the judge how much she missed her child and how she felt Skakel should get the maximum sentence.

DOROTHY MOXLEY, MARTHA'S MOTHER: We were sentenced to a life without Martha and so I think, you know, it's just fitting that Michael is sentenced to a life without his little boy, also. He will, you know, he'll be able to be out of jail and get back into his son's life, where Martha will never come back.

FEYERICK: Skakel choked up as Dorothy Moxley and her one surviving child, John Moxley, spoke. But Skakel's tears were heaviest when his own friends described how much of an impact he had on their lives.

DAVID BANGSBERG, SKAKEL FRIEND: We're dealing with a very worthy person here, with a profound sense of humanity and compassion. And the Michael Skakel that I know is incapable of doing what allegedly he is being charged with.

FEYERICK: The judge received dozens of letters from Skakel's family and friends, all asking for leniency. One letter from cousin Robert Kennedy, Jr. describes how Skakel, a former alcoholic, helped Kennedy get sober two decades ago. The judge will Crusader the letters and statements in deciding Skakel's prison sentence.

Skakel was defeated earlier in the day when the judge denied his lawyers' motions to toss out the jury's guilty verdict and get a new trial. Judge John Kavanewsky saying he was not persuaded by defense arguments.

(on camera): There were several tense moments in the courtroom. When Mrs. Moxley got up to speak, Michael Skakel's sister Julie stood and walked out. John Moxley described it saying both families are two sides of one coin, and they each feel passionately about the amount of time Michael Skakel should spend behind bars.

Deborah Feyerick, CNN, Norwalk, Connecticut.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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