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Skakel Convicted of Moxley Murder

Aired June 07, 2002 - 20:00   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, HOST: He called for the Department of Homeland Defense six months before September 11. We'll go live to Washington to speak with a congressman with a lot of foresight.

ANNOUNCER: Nearly 27 years after the crime, a guilty verdict in the killing of Martha Moxley.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is Martha's day. This is truly Martha's day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: And it was judgment day for Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel, but a vow from his lawyer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICKEY SHERMAN, SKAKEL'S LAWYER: This is not over. I'm not bitter. I'm determined. I believe in Michael Skakel. I believe Michael Skakel.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: We'll go live to the courthouse.

An American couple held hostage in the Philippines for more than year. Today, a bloody rescue attempt in the jungle leaves the husband dead, the wife wounded.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's kind of numbing right now. You know, I suppose the full impact will hit us later on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Selling security. President Bush pushes his homeland security plan with Congress.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm convinced that by working together that we can do what's right for America. And I believe we can get something done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: An extensive search for a girl abducted at gunpoint from her bedroom.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would say that we're still very optimistic at this point in the investigation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: CNN's live from Washington, the Philippines, Salt Lake City, Connecticut and other datelines around the globe. And now, here's Leon Harris.

HARRIS: Good evening. More than a quarter century after Martha Moxley's bloody murder comes resolution. A Connecticut jury finds Michael Skakel guilty of the 1975 murder. Following the verdict, her mother declares that today is, quote, "Martha's day."

CNN's Deborah Feyerick has been covering the trial from day one. She joins us now live. Deborah, hello.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, Leon. Well, Michael Skakel is spending his first night in prison at the Bridgeport Correctional Center. He was processed into the system. His fingerprints were taken, his picture was also taken. Now has a file that will be there for a while, and you can see, he looks a lot different than he did when he left this courthouse hours ago earlier this morning.

Now, Michael Skakel found guilty by a jury. A unanimous decision.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FEYERICK (voice-over): Michael Skakel walked into court as he has every day for five weeks, but this time when he left, his hands were cuffed, a jury finding him guilty of murdering Martha Moxley in 1975, when both were only 15 years old.

As the verdict was read, Michael Skakel stood frozen, the victim's family sobbing with relief, calling this Martha's day.

DORTHY MOXLEY, MARTHA MOXLEY'S MOTHER: You know this whole thing was about Martha, and I just, I am so, I just feel so blessed and so overwhelmed that we've actually, we now, you know, this is Martha's day.

FEYERICK: The judge denied bail and did not give Skakel a chance to speak as he requested following the verdict. Skakel's lawyer vowed to get his client out, no matter how long it takes.

SHERMAN: And I think that this jury needed to find some way to give closure to Dorthy Moxley. I understand it. I appreciate it, but you don't offer up the carcass of Michael Skakel in order to make her feel good.

FEYERICK: The jury deliberated three full days before announcing the verdict early Friday morning. In the end, it was Skakel's own words to students at a drug rehab school, and to an author on a proposed biography, that prosecutors believe helped convict him.

JONATHAN BENEDICT, PROSECUTOR: The defendant's own words are what did him in, and where they came from, you know, three or four (UNINTELLIGIBLE) witnesses were extremely helpful. They're the ones that really got the show on the road. His last words that we know of to Richard Hoffman, of course, you know, he kind of walked himself to the crime scene with that.

FEYERICK: One alternate juror, who did not deliberate, said after hearing the evidence she believed Michael Skakel was guilty, and that it was prosecutor's closing arguments that confirmed it.

ANNE LAYTON, ALTERNATE JUROR: I felt that he put himself right at the location. That, combined with several other pieces of testimony where there was conflict in his alibi, I felt really finalized that decision for me.

FEYERICK: Michael Skakel's lawyer plans to appeal.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FEYERICK: Michael Skakel will be sentenced on July 19. He's facing a minimum of 10 years, the maximum of 25 years to life. And after he is sentenced, we're told by one lawyer that the Supreme Court will reanalyze the case. Remember, Leon, this was moved from juvenile to adult court. Skakel's lawyer had appealed that, saying that it was illegal to do that, because this crime took place 27 years ago. Michael Skakel, only 15 years old at the time. So it will be interesting to see what the Supreme Court finds, whether in fact it should have been moved from juvenile to adult court -- Leon.

HARRIS: Yeah, that will be the next development we'll be watching in this case.

I want to ask you some more about the conversations with some of those jurors. Did they give you an idea that perhaps the deliberations were contentious, or maybe they all went in with a different idea and they convinced each other, or did they come to the conclusion pretty quickly?

FEYERICK: Well, this is what's interesting. The jurors we spoke to are alternate jurors. They actually did not sit in on deliberations. However, what's interesting is they met the other jurors for lunch, for lunch and drinks is what they said. They said that the jurors are really a bit shellshocked right now. This took a lot out of them. They deliberated for three full days. We had heard actually from someone who was near the jury deliberation room that at one point there was some very loud discussion going on. We don't want to call it yelling by any stretch of the imagination. But the jury was very careful and very deliberate going over all of this evidence.

And you know, also, Leon, this evidence was something that the alternate jurors did listen very carefully to. They said that if they had a vote, that day before they were sort of dismissed, they said that they would have found Michael Skakel guilty based on everything they heard. They said it was just too coincidental that he should be exactly where the killer would have been, really if not at the same time, then pretty near the time.

HARRIS: That surprises me. Quickly, would you have expected that immediately? I know you might have been surprised.

FEYERICK: No, as a matter of fact, I wasn't surprised. Maybe it was because I had set the bar so low for the prosecution that when they came out with their opening statements, they far exceeded my expectations of what it is they promised to deliver. And then sitting in that courtroom, day after day after day, you realize that prosecutors were building a very slow but very steady case against Michael Skakel. And then when Skakel put his defense witnesses on, it actually served to bolster the prosecution's case.

So yeah, being in the court the whole time, it was not clear that Michael Skakel would be acquitted. In fact, there was every possibility that the jury would reach the verdict that it did reach.

HARRIS: Interesting. Deborah Feyerick, thank you very much. Nice job covering this trial. You've been there from the very beginning.

FEYERICK: Thanks, Leon.

HARRIS: Now, Jeffrey Toobin is our legal analyst, and he's one of those who's been surprised a bit by the way things turned out. We heard you talking about that earlier today, Jeff. Let's talk now about what's going to happen next. We did hear the Skakel's lawyer saying that they will appeal. What do you think about the grounds they may have for appeal here?

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: I think the main issue will be, was this the right court in which to try this case? As Deb said, Michael Skakel was 15 years old at the time of the crime. If he had been arrested promptly, there's no question he would have been tried under 1975 law in juvenile court. The defense argued that he would have -- that that's where it should have been all along.

Another issue that will come up is sufficiency of the evidence. Was there simply enough evidence for a rational jury to find that this -- that Michael Skakel was guilty? Appeals courts are allowed to consider that. There was juror misconduct issue. One juror commented to another about whether what Michael Skakel said to one of the witnesses, "good job," the defense wanted to have him thrown off the case. He wasn't thrown off the case.

And then there was Gregory Coleman, who was the Elan School student who testified that Michael Skakel confessed. He died after he testified in the preliminary hearing but before the trial. The jury got to hear his transcript. The defense objected to the use of the transcript.

And then finally, there was the jury charge, where the judge very carefully tied the evidence in the case to the jury charge. He sort of tailored the jury charge very much to the evidence in the case.

Those are all issues to be raised. But the bottom line is, and I think it's important to remember, most cases are affirmed on appeal. These are not overwhelmingly unusual issues, except for the juvenile versus Superior Court case. So I think the odds always favor an affirmance on appeal.

HARRIS: OK. Well, look, you've had some time to think about it now, you've had a chance to actually get used to it, and we've heard over and over now the assessment by the prosecutors in this. Using hindsight now, should you have been surprised?

TOOBIN: Well, you know, I will stand by my right to be surprised. This was a tough case. It's 26 years old. I mean, I'd never heard of a trial involving a murder case 26 years earlier. I mean, it's happened, but I certainly never covered one before. There was no direct evidence, no eyewitness testimony, no DNA, no fingerprints.

I mean, I think the jury made the right decision. I certainly respect their views. But, you know, this was a tough case. And I think the jury, you know, heard a great closing argument from the prosecutor Jonathan Benedict, and I think that really turned it around.

HARRIS: Well, that and Skakel's own words, that's what the prosecutors say.

TOOBIN: Skakel's own words, the key.

HARRIS: All right, Jeffrey Toobin, thank you very much. Appreciate it, and have a good one. See you later.

TOOBIN: All right.

HARRIS: Now you can hear some more from Dorthy and John Moxley and Skakel attorney Mickey Sherman. They're going to be the guests tonight on "LARRY KING LIVE" at the top of the next hour, at 9 p.m. Eastern, right here on CNN.

Now turning to other news today, in the Philippines, a desperate attempt to rescue hostages ends violently with a nurse and a U.S. missionary dead and his wife wounded. Authorities say that assault happened inside the dense jungles near Samboanga. CNN's Maria Ressa joins us now live from Manila. She's got the very latest on this sad story for us. Hello, Maria.

MARIA RESSA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Leon, the rescue operation was actually part of an overall military plan that was planned with the help of U.S. military, according to Pentagon officials. Code named Operation Daybreak, this was something that the joint military had been working on since the U.S. troops have been here for the last five months.

This was -- the actual rescue attempt, however, was the result of a chance encounter. Filipino scout rangers trained by U.S. special forces were tracking the Abu Sayyaf and their hostages for the past 12 days. They stumbled on the group by the side of a stream. The group was resting.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(voice-over): American missionaries Martin and Gracia Burnham lived in the Philippines for 15 years. This is where they raised their families. Last year they went to this resort to celebrate their 18th wedding anniversary.

That was the night they were kidnapped by the al Qaeda linked Abu Sayyaf. A month later Filipino nurse Deborah Yap was also kidnapped. For more than a year, the three were moved constantly in the jungles, their captors evading thousands of Filipino and, recently, U.S. troops.

You can see the toll it took on them, here forced to read a statement of support for Osama bin Laden and his causes. Months later, visibly thinner, Martin showed the chains his kidnappers used to tie him to a tree at night. Gracia would sleep next to him in their makeshift tent. In January, Gracia smuggled a letter out to her sister.

She cautioned against a military rescue. "To be honest," writes Gracia, "we do not want to be rescued, because they come in shooting at us. If someone can't give somewhere, we will die."

The Filipino team that attempted this rescue was trained and equipped by the U.S. military.

GLORIA MACADPAGAL ARROYO, PHILIPPINES PRESIDENT: Our soldiers tried their best to hold their fire for the safety of the hostages. We had hoped and prayed for their safe return.

RESSA: All three hostages were hit during the firefight. Gracia Burnham survived, but her husband Martin, and Deborah Yapp, were killed.

PAUL BURNHAM, VICTIM'S FATHER: We trust them to do what was right, but we don't know the details. It has been a year. It's been frustrating for everybody trying to get them out. The real enemy is the Abu Sayyaf.

RESSA: Military operations are continuing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

In a strange twist, Gracia Burnham says her husband had a premonition a few days ago that something bad was going to happen to him. He wrote a letter to his three children. He said he wanted to say goodbye. That letter, according to Gracia, was lost in the firefight that happened. Soldiers have since found it and are expected to give it back to her Saturday, that is now.

Philippine president Gloria Arroyo sent her sympathy and condolences to the family of the Burnhams and Yaps. At the same time she said that the military operations will continue. The Abu Sayyaf will not be allowed to get away with this. They will continue until they wipe out the al Qaeda linked Abu Sayyaf.

This is Maria Ressa, CNN, live from Manila. Back to you, Leon.

HARRIS: Thank you, Maria. I think those children will thank whatever force it was that inspired Martin to write that letter. Thank you, Maria.

Now, Martin Burnham's father and brother are going to be joining Aaron Brown live, later on tonight right on here on CNN at "NEWSNIGHT," 10 p.m. Eastern, 7 p.m. Pacific. We'll take a break right now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Now that President Bush has announced his plans for a massive new Department of Homeland Security, he faces the process of getting that proposal through Congress. CNN's senior White House correspondent John King takes a look at the effort to strengthen security.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A new focus for a president trying to sell the country and the Congress on a new Cabinet agency to help fight the war on terror.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: When you take power away from one person in Washington, it tends to make them nervous. So we're just going to have to keep the pressure on the people in the United States Congress to do the right thing.

KING: This visit to the World Pork Expo in Iowa was scheduled to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the Bush tax cut becoming law.

BUSH: It was the right public policy at the right time for the United States of America.

KING: But the main focus of the speech was changed, and Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge added to the trip as a follow-up to the president's nationally televised appeal for a major restructuring of the federal government.

At this morning's meeting back at the White House, key Democrats promised help selling the plan in a Congress where 88 committees and subcommittees now have at least some say in homeland security.

SEN. JOE LIEBERMAN (D), CONNECTICUT: Look, the fact that is that we're at war. And we have traditionally said in America that when at war, partisanship ends at the nation's borders. KING: The Bush plan moves 170,000 federal workers and dozens of agencies to the new Department of Homeland Security, including the Border Patrol, the Coast Guard, and the new agency that oversees airport security. The restructuring would not affect the operations of the FBI and CIA, but the president said reforms are underway at those agencies to prevent additional intelligence lapses.

BUSH: We've learned lessons from what took place prior to September 11.

KING: Homeland Security Director Ridge will lead the lobbying effort on Capitol Hill and is said to be the president's all but certain choice to run the new department.

(on camera): The president wants the new department up and running by the first of the year, and says he's optimistic, despite likely turf battles with the Congress. But he will continue to promote the idea on the road, just in case, on the assumption the Congress won't say no to a popular president who says this new Department of Homeland Security is now critical to winning the war on terrorism.

John King, CNN, Des Moines, Iowa.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: A member of the house armed services committee introduced a bill last year that would have done many of the things called for in the president's homeland security plan. Republican Mac Thornberry of Texas joins us now live from Washington with his thoughts on the Bush proposal. Good evening, congressman, glad to have you with us this evening.

REP. MAC THORNBERRY (R), TEXAS: Thank you.

HARRIS: All right. How many times have you said "I told you so" in the last 24 hours?

THORNBERRY: I try not to say that, because there are some things you don't want to be right about. But the fact is that there's been a group of us working on this for a while. And before us, there was a bipartisan Blue Ribbon commission that spent three years coming up with this proposal. So there's been a lot of thought, a lot of study, a lot of work done before last night.

HARRIS: Yeah, but what was it, though, that really got you keyed in on that particular issue six months before September 11? Was it any one incident, or was there some sort of -- something you saw or felt on the horizon, or what?

THORNBERRY: Well, I just tried to look ahead and see what things were ahead of us. What kinds of security challenges we would face in the future, because it's always hard for a country to look ahead rather than refight the last war. And homeland security just looms up there so big, you couldn't ignore it. And then when you had a very important commission chaired by Gary Hart, former Senator Warren Rudman say this is our number one threat, and here's how we ought to help deal with it, create this new Cabinet department, I thought we ought to put it on the table, and so I introduced the bill.

HARRIS: All right. Now we know that President Bush has announced what some are calling a rather ambitious time schedule here. He wants to have all this done by January. Did you envision something being wrapped up that quickly, or are you concerned that something being done that quickly might overlook something?

THORNBERRY: No, we've got to move quickly. The longer we drag this out, the more -- the longer we're vulnerable as a country. And remember, all of the work that's been done not just in the previous months but in the previous years on this proposal. So we need to act and we need to act quickly.

You know, I think the president really took the bull by the horns and now he's kind of put it in Congress' lap. The question is, are we going to match his seriousness and his commitment to winning this war?

HARRIS: Well, speaking of that war, that is just one of the many things that are right now on the president's plate, on this administration's plate. This time schedule, getting this wrapped up in such a short period of time. There are some who are concerned that this may be a bit too distracting considering everything that's going to be on the administration's plate right now.

THORNBERRY: I'll tell you, I don't think there's anything more important than making sure that we are not attacked by terrorists here at home, that we don't have a chemical, biological, nuclear attack in some American city. I think this ought to be on the top of everybody's list.

And we're making progress. We've had bills introduced in the Senate, it's already been reported out of a committee. The speaker is looking at setting up a special committee in the House to consider it quickly. And so things are moving. We can do it. We can do it by this fall sometime, and get the new entity running first of the year.

HARRIS: I don't want to put you on the spot, but I know at some point you've had to think about this. If you'd been able to convince more people a year ago, how different do you think things would have been in September of last year?

THORNBERRY: I don't think you can ever say that this would have prevented September 11. It's no guarantee for preventing a future attack. The key is now we've had a wake-up call. Are we going to respond to it? Are we going to find excuses? Are we going to protect our bureaucratic turf? That's really going to be the question before Congress. And I think it's going to be very hard for any committee chairman to stand up and say, my personal turf is more important than making the country safer. That's just going to be a hard sell.

HARRIS: Well, the reason I ask you that question is because once this new bureaucracy is in place, many are going to expect that this was going to give people a sense of security, a sense of insurance that nothing will ever happen again. THORNBERRY: Well, that will be a mistake. People ought to know, there are no absolute guarantees. This bill does not solve all our problems. We still have a lot of work to do in a lot of other areas. But that does not excuse us from doing everything we can, including creating this bill, bringing together the border security agencies, the cyber terrorism folks, the emergency preparedness offices around the government, bringing all that together so it can be coordinated and efficient and work for the best interests of the country.

HARRIS: Well, at least one good thing is that lots of thought has been put into the process in the years past, we'll see how quickly we can get things ramped up. Congressman Mac Thornberry, thank you very much for your time this evening. Good luck to you.

We'll take a break, be back with more in just a moment.

ANNOUNCER: Next, a desperate hunt in the Utah mountains.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're currently still in the canyon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: We'll go live to Salt Lake City for the latest on the search for the kidnapped girl.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: According to the Justice Department, 359,000 children in the U.S. are kidnapped each year. The vast majority of those children are abducted by relatives.

HARRIS: The desperate search for missing teenage girl is under way in Salt Lake City, Utah this evening. Authorities say Elizabeth Smart was abducted from her bedroom early Wednesday morning, but they remain optimistic that the 14-year-old girl will be found. National correspondent Frank Buckley's been following this case for us live from Salt Lake City. He joins us now -- Frank.

FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you're right, Leon, there still is optimism among both the detectives, some 100 or so detectives working this case from the various agencies, including the FBI, who has sent in some profilers to work on this case now, and among family members. All of them expect that Elizabeth Smart is still alive, and they do hope that she will be coming home soon.

But because she isn't home right now, today she missed an important moment in a young person's life.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BUCKLEY (voice-over): Friends and family gathered for what should have been a joyous occasion, a promotion ceremony from junior high. Eighth-grader, Elizabeth Smart, among the students recognized for her high grade point average and good citizenship, but she was also recognized with a moment of silence, her brother accepting her promotion certificate.

UNIDENTIFIED GIRL: We really miss her and we want her to come back.

BUCKLEY: The search for Elizabeth continues around the clock. Sheriff's deputies followed up on a volunteer searcher's sighting of a man who appeared to fit the description of the suspect. It turned up nothing. And investigators poured through tips coming in at a rate of one per minute. But police concede, they are frustrated by a lack of progress.

CAPT. SCOTT ATKINSON, SALT LAKE CITY POLICE: We're not finding any information that's building us toward any particular suspect, and that's frustrating.

BUCKLEY: But the police chief cautioned against any speculation that investigators might be looking at Elizabeth's family.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The family in this case has been extremely cooperative. They have done everything that we have asked them to do. We are not focusing on the family at this time. But we have not eliminated anybody as a suspect.

BUCKLEY: But the lack of progress in the investigation is not from a lack of volunteers, who are signing up by the hundreds to help find the missing girl.

Julie Simmons (ph) made blue ribbons, Elizabeth's favorite color, one of many small acts of great kindness.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have to do something. And every small thing that we do is helpful.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BUCKLEY: And family members have expressed their gratitude to the volunteers for all that they're doing. Still, we know that all of this, this entire ordeal is, in fact, taking a toll on the family members. We were told today that the family, the parents, finally got some much-needed sleep today, but we also know that Ed Smart, Elizabeth's father, had to be checked into a hospital because he was suffering from exhaustion -- Leon.

HARRIS: Frank, what can you tell us about what the police are doing behind the scenes?

BUCKLEY: Well, we see a lot of the things that are going on out front with the volunteers, some 1,200 volunteers showing up yesterday and today. We know that the detectives are also doing some things in terms of reconstructing Elizabeth Smart's life.

What they do in a case like this, they start where she disappeared and work backwards. Who were the last people to see her? Who saw her before that? And they try to reconstruct a timeline all the way back and then go out from there in the same way that when you do a search, you start small and the circles get larger and larger as you go out. They do the same thing with a person's life and that's what they're doing right now with Elizabeth Smart.

HARRIS: Yes, and we know that they get more and more concerned as more and more time goes by too. Frank Buckley.

BUCKLEY: Yes.

HARRIS: Reporting live from Salt Lake City, thank you very much. We'll take a break. We'll be back in just a moment.

ANNOUNCER: Next, an in-depth look back at a murder conviction 27 years in the making.

FEYERICK: The Skakel boys were part of a rich and powerful family, linked by marriage to America's royal family, the Kennedys, when their aunt Ethel married Robert Kennedy in 1950.

LEN LEAVITT, JOURNALIST: When it came to the Skakels, the Greenwich Police Department were treading lightly. I think that they were reluctant to see the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) on this case because initially they were intimidated by them.

ANNOUNCER: And later, a new discovery in the Chandra Levy case.

CHIEF CHARLES RAMSEY, D.C. METROPOLITAN POLICE: I don't know if it was there at the time they searched and was drug there later or they just blew it and just missed the search.

ANNOUNCER: A report from Washington where the discovery of a bone is apparently another major embarrassment for the D.C. police.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Welcome back. Let's take another look at our top story this evening. Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel faces ten years to life in prison. A jury today found him guilty of the 1975 murder of his neighbor Martha Moxley. Both were 15 at the time. Moxley was beaten to death with a golf club outside her Greenwich, Connecticut home.

More than 26 years have gone by since Martha Moxley was killed. The Moxley family spent those years working to bring Michael Skakel to trial. Deborah Feyerick examines those events in this "PEOPLE IN THE NEWS" profile.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FEYERICK: Mischief night, the night before Halloween, when kids hang out after dark playing pranks on their neighbors. It was an innocent tradition as old as Trick or Treating in Del Haven, a wealthy Greenwich, Connecticut community with its own security guard, where kids played unafraid, until 1975, when everything changed.

DORTHY MOXLEY, MARTHA MOXLEY'S MOTHER: They hit her so hard that the golf club broke and then they took the shaft and they stabbed her with it six or seven times. I mean it was terrible, terrible. FEYERICK: Martha Moxley, just 15 years old, brutally beaten to death on mischief night, left face down under a pine tree on the side of her house.

TIMOTHY DUMAS, AUTHOR "A WEALTH OF EVIL: THE STORY OF THE MURDER OF MARTHA MOXLEY": Nothing in our town like this had ever happened, and it not only scared us but kind of captured our imaginations. It was a big mystery.

FEYERICK: The key clue in the killing of the honor student broke in pieces of a bloody golf club. Police began searching door-to-door, scouring the manicured lawns for anything leading to the killer.

They discovered Martha was last seen around 9:30 at night, leaving the home of teenage brothers, Tommy and Michael Skakel. Police questioned the boys and their father let detectives look around the family's home.

EMMANUEL MARGOLIS, SKAKEL FAMILY ATTORNEY: Mr. Skakel was, still is a very friendly man, very open kind of man and his attitude was, we have absolutely nothing to hide so come on in boys. Make yourselves at home and have a cup of coffee and a sandwich.

FEYERICK: The Skakel boys were part of a rich and powerful family, linked by marriage to America's royal family, the Kennedys, when their aunt Ethel married Robert Kennedy in 1950.

LEAVITT: When it came to the Skakels, the Greenwich Police Department were treading lightly. They were reluctant to zero in on the Skakels because initially they were intimidated by them.

FEYERICK: But police did determine the golf club used to kill Martha Moxley was part of a rare monogrammed set belonging to the Skakel family, only it was missing one important part.

THOMAS KEEGAN, FORMER GREENWICH CHIEF OF POLICE: It was deliberately broken in a couple of pieces and it was broken, I think, for one reason, that the killer knew that on the handle of that club was the Skakel name.

FEYERICK: The police began zeroing in on several suspects, including Tommy Skakel, even though they had no blood, no fingerprints, no physical evidence.

MARGOLIS: He was a logical person for them to be interested in when you think about it, because he was, in terms of the knowledge at the time, was the last person who had been seen with Martha when she was alive.

FEYERICK: But police records would later show it was Tommy's brother, Michael, who began running into trouble. On a trip to New York City, he seemed to snap.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was this incident on the Tri-Borough Bridge where he threatened to jump off the bridge, saying that he had done something very bad. FEYERICK: By 1978, Michael Skakel was sent to the E'lan School in Maine, a place for kids battling substance abuse and emotional problems. E'lan was all about tough love, harsh punishment. Some former students say it bordered on physical and emotional abuse. Skakel was constantly confronted with Martha Moxley's unsolved murder.

FORMER E'LAN STUDENT: He was told again and again, we know you killed her. We know you killed her, and he always said he didn't.

FEYERICK: Trying to move on with his life, Skakel got a job working for his cousin Michael Kennedy at the Citizens Energy Corporation. Skakel and his cousin Michael were described as close companions, but Michael Kennedy later became engulfed in a scandal of his own, following allegations he had sex with his underage babysitter. Attention surrounding this case and the earlier rape charges against another Kennedy cousin, William Kennedy Smith, stirred up interest in the Kennedy clan's troubling behavior, past and present.

Once again, people started whispering about the Skakel link to the murder of Martha Moxley. It has been 20 years and still the police did not have enough evidence to file charges against anyone. The case had grown cold.

DOMINICK DUNNE, AUTHOR "A SEASON IN PURGATORY": Rushton Skakel hired a private detective agency called the Sutton Agency, made up of retired detectives and cops from NYPD, and they all signed confidentiality oaths and they were given access to the Skakel family, to the children in a way that the Greenwich Police never were.

FEYERICK: Rushton Skakel, Michael Skakel's father, hoped the final report by Sutton Associates would help clear his son, but it did the opposite. It placed Michael Skakel right at the crime scene for the very first time.

DUNNE: It was they to whom Michael Skakel changed his story. He said that he climbed a tree outside Martha's window and masturbated in the tree.

FEYERICK: Writer Dominick Dunne, who wrote a best-selling fictional account of Martha Moxley's murder, says he was given a stolen copy of the Sutton report by a young employee.

DUNNE: He had become involved emotionally with the story, feeling very sorry for Martha Moxley and he stole it and contacted me. He'd seen me on TV talking about the case. He'd read my book. He'd seen my miniseries and he brought it to me and it was red hot. It was dynamite stuff.

FEYERICK: Dunne passed the Sutton report to Mark Fuhrman, the controversial former LAPD detective from the O.J. Simpson trial. Fuhrman wrote his own book called "Murder in Greenwich," which accused Michael Skakel of murdering Moxley.

After nearly 25 years of rumors and gossip, a Connecticut Grand Jury was convened and the Moxley family saw Michael Skakel, now the sole suspect indicted for Martha's murder.

MOXLEY: I really want this to be something straightforward. I want it to be decided by a jury after, you know, after a straightforward presentation by the prosecution and the defense.

FEYERICK: During the five-week trial, the prosecution argued that Michael Skakel killed Martha Moxley in a jealous drunken rage, after seeing her, the object of his affection, flirting with his brother Tommy. But the defense said with no forensic evidence, no direct proof, the prosecution was grasping at straws. In the end, it came down to confession, perhaps the most damaging, Skakel's own voice on tape, placing himself directly at the crime scene. The jury deliberated three full days before coming down with its verdict.

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: I think you had to scrape me off the floor when this started. I mean I am very surprised.

FEYERICK: After 27 years of waiting, the Moxley family got its wish, justice for Martha, 41-year-old Michael Skakel found guilty of Murder as charged.

MOXLEY: I just feel so blessed and so overwhelmed that we've actually, we've now, you know this is Martha's day. This is truly Martha's day.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Hear more from Dorthy and John Moxley and Skakel attorney Mickey Sherman. They'll be on CNN's "LARRY KING LIVE" tonight at the top of the hour at 9:00 p.m. Eastern, 6:00 Pacific.

For more news on personalities behind the headlines, just tune in to "PEOPLE IN THE NEWS." This weekend, CNN takes an in-depth look at the British Royal Family. That's tomorrow at 11:00 a.m., and at 3:00 p.m. Eastern and again Sunday at 8:00 p.m. Eastern on "PEOPLE IN THE NEWS."

Turning now to another case this one unsolved, new evidence in the murder investigation of Chandra Levy, just how did the police miss a bone just 25 yards from where the body was found? That story coming up next.

LOU DOBBS, MONEYLINE ANCHOR: I'm Lou Dobbs with this MONEYLINE update. A warning from Intel, and investor distrust of corporate America thrusting the Dow Jones Industrials 34 points on the day, the NASDAQ down 33. The Dow lost three percent on the week, the NASDAQ fell five percent, and El Paso Energy has revealed the SEC is investigating. Watch "MONEYLINE" weeknights 6:00 p.m. Eastern on CNN, LIVE FROM with Leon Harris returns in just a moment.

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HARRIS: A somewhat embarrassing day for the D.C. Police today. Police were back in Washington's Rock Creek Park trying to figure out whether they have missed any other remaining evidence in the death of Chandra Levy. Now this comes after the discovery of what could be a leg bone near the spot where Levy's remains were found last month. CNN's National Correspondent Bob Franken checks in on what police think happened.

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BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): They're back. Not only did D.C. police fail to find a major part of the skeleton when they scoured the Rock Creek bed for several days, but it took more than two weeks after Chandra Levy's remains were turned up before a large leg bone was found, just 25 yards from the site evidence teams say they went over with a fine tooth rake, and it was private investigators for Chandra Levy's family who uncovered it, not the police.

RAMSEY: Obviously, all of these bones have had considerable animal activity in terms of animals dragging them off and bringing them back and so forth. So, I don't know if it was there at the time they searched and was drug there later, or they just blew it and just missed the search.

FRANKEN: After meeting with his detectives, the police chief said there was what he called a strong possibility the bone had been reintroduced into the area by wildlife and had not been overlooked, but skeptics were in full voice.

The investigation is already widely criticized for missing Chandra Levy's body in its first search of the park last summer.

LOU HENNESSY, FORMER D.C. HOMICIDE DETECTIVE: You've heard a couple of explanations and excuses for it. It's unfortunate that it occurred. It's painful obviously for the Levy family, and it's a real embarrassment to the police department.

FRANKEN: Because of the 24-year-old former Washington intern's relationship with her 53-year-old hometown Congressman Gary Condit, the Chandra Levy questions dominated world attention for months, with no answers, and now this.

MIKE BROOKS, FORMER D.C. DETECTIVE: Does it lead people to say that the Metropolitan Police is possibly incompetent and leaves some things to be desired? That's possible too.

RAMSEY: It's easy for people to sit back and Monday morning quarterback and guess, but most of you folks have walked that same area and you know how difficult that terrain is.

FRANKEN: Levy's investigators also found wire at the scene. Police say it might have had something to do with her death, or not, they simply don't know.

FRANKEN (on camera): There are other important items still missing, her keys, a bracelet she usually wore, a gift from Condit, a ring. Investigators say they do not know if they too are hidden where they've already searched. Bob Franken, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE) HARRIS: Convicted of murder, facing a possible life sentence for the action of her dogs, now her trial lawyer says mistakes may have led to an unjust verdict. Is that enough to get her a new trial, a report from the courthouse coming up next? And the latest on R&B singer R. Kelly, who's facing 15 years in prison for actions allegedly caught on videotape, details after the break.

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HARRIS: Before we continue, CNN has just been able to confirm this report coming to us from the West Bank in Israel. We have gotten word of another state of violence there. An unknown number of Palestinians broke into a settlement, the Karmei Tsur Settlement on the West Bank and killed three Israelis in shooting. A fourth person has been injured. We understand this happened sometime about two hours ago. We'll keep you updated on that story as it develops.

Now updating the California dog mauling trial, the husband and wife who were found guilty went to court for sentencing today but the judge says that he needs some more time to consider the facts. Here's CNN's Rusty Dornin with more.

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RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The defense attorney for Marjorie Knoller argued that what happened in that hallway when Diane Whipple was mauled to death by Knoller's dog, it does not constitute Second Degree Murder, not according he says to California Law. He says it has to be an intentional act that has a high probability of resulting in death.

He also argued that the judge himself had made mistakes during the trial, as well as Knoller's former defense attorney. Judge James Warren (ph) said he would seriously consider the arguments at hand and decided upon a delay, even though a sentencing was highly anticipated in this case and the judge did apologize to Diane Whipple's domestic partner Sharon Smith.

SHARON SMITH, DOMESTIC PARTNER: I thought it was very thoughtful of the judge to address me. I'm also here with a good 15 or 20 friends and family members that are also suffering through the same things that I am and so, I'm sure he meant for them as well. If not, I certainly appreciate them being here and supporting Diane.

DORNIN: The judge will issue a decision on June 17th. If there is a new trial, it will only be Robert Noel, her husband, who would be sentenced on Involuntary Manslaughter charges. He could face four years in prison. If a motion for a new trial is turned down, then Marjorie Knoller could fact 15 years to life. Rusty Dornin, CNN, San Francisco.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Now let's take a quick look at some other stories in the headlines this evening. Former NBA Star Jayson Williams pleaded not guilty today to manslaughter charges in the death of a limousine driver. Prosecutors say Williams recklessly handled a shotgun in February, which went off, killing Costas Christofi. Williams is also accused of trying to make it look like the victim shot himself. If convicted, he could get 45 years in prison.

Singer R. Kelly is free on a $75,000 bond tonight. Kelly faces multiple counts of child pornography in Chicago, all this stemming from a videotape anonymously sent to the Chicago Sun Times newspaper and this tape allegedly shows the singer engaged in sexual acts with a 14-year-old girl. Kelly denies the allegation. He says he looks forward to his day in court.

An orange ribbon of flame is charring its way across more than 20,000 acres near Los Angeles. Fire crews are trying to save houses in the Saugus and Copper Hill areas, where 2,000 people have been evacuated. The fire accidentally ignited by a welder's spark has already destroyed several homes and buildings there.

An offering of solace and sympathy in Germany today, survivors of the Columbine High School shooting placed a wreath of yellow flowers on the steps of Johann Gutenberg Gymnasium High School, the school in Erfurt is where an expelled student shot 16 classmates and himself back in April.

Well visitors are always welcome when you've been floating in space for six months and you haven't seen anyone new. The shuttle meets up with the space station when we return.

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HARRIS: All right, finally this evening, a new crew is on the International Space Station tonight and boy is the old crew happy. In fact, they were so excited to see these new guys show up, that one astronaut announced the Shuttle Endeavor's arrival seven minutes early and another one tried to get a head start opening up the shuttle's hatch and was asked to actually just calm down and wait. After some repairs to the station's robot arm, the current space triad is going to head home after spending 194 days in space and that will be a U.S. record.

And that is our report for tonight. I'm Leon Harris, glad you stayed with us this evening. "LARRY KING LIVE" is coming up next. Have a good weekend.

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