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CNN Live At Daybreak

Jury Will Hear More Testimony Today in Trial of Kennedy Cousin Michael Skakel

Aired May 13, 2002 - 05:17   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: The jury will hear more testimony today in the trial of Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel. They had the day off on Friday. But a hearing was held to see if jurors should hear evidence that implicates a former suspect in Martha Moxley's murder. That suspect was a former Skakel family tutor.

CNN's Deborah Feyerick has more on that hearing and the significance of the ex-tutor in the Skakel case.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The focus of the hearing, what the Skakel family tutor did or did not say. First, conversations Ken Littleton had with his then wife a decade after the murder. Mary Baker says she was trying to help Greenwich investigators and hopefully clear her husband. Police suggested she tell him he already admitted to the murder while he was blacked out and that there was evidence, a pair of jeans he must have hidden.

But now she says none of those details was true.

DOROTHY MOXLEY, MARTHA MOXLEY'S MOTHER: I think Mary Baker wins the Mother's Day award because I can see why she would want to help the police because she wanted to prove that her children's father was not a murderer.

FEYERICK: But after defense questioning about who said what and who they said it to, Ken Littleton finally answered yes when asked if he once told his wife he admitted stabbing Martha Moxley through the neck. The defense calls that a confession. Prosecutors call it a bizarre attempt by Greenwich investigators to wrap up the murder by seeing whether Littleton would incriminate himself.

Littleton suffers from bipolar disorder and takes six different medications every day. One investigator tells a different story, saying Littleton's wife came to them, claiming Littleton was obsessing and saying things about the murder. Also at the hearing, both prosecutors and defense lawyers showed a videotape while Littleton was on the stand. On it, Littleton speaks with a police psychiatrist. But the details he gives of the murder are not firsthand. They're details, Littleton says, his wife told him.

The defense sees it differently. MICKEY SHERMAN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: He's told a state's hired profiler psychologist investigator that he committed the crime. "This is when I said I did it." Let the jury decide if that means anything or not. It's not up to me.

FEYERICK: Littleton says he went to the psychiatrist to clear up suspicion and save his marriage. He wanted, he says, to live happily ever after.

(on camera): Littleton will be cross-examined Monday. The judge says he'll decide whether to allow the wiretaps and tapes when the subject comes up. How long should that take? According to Skakel's lawyer, as soon as they all say good morning.

Deborah Feyerick, CNN, Norwalk, Connecticut.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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