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CNN Live Today

Skakel Prosecutors Will Not Call Brother

Aired May 14, 2002 - 11:32   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.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: There is a surprising development in the Michael Skakel murder trial in Norwalk, Connecticut. Prosecutors say they will not call his brother Thomas as a prosecution witness.

With a look at what that means for the defense, we go to Deborah Feyerick, outside the courthouse.

Good morning.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.

Long before Michael Skakel was even considered a suspect, there were two main people that police were looking at. The first was the Skakel family tutor, Ken Littleton. The second was Tommy Skakel, Michael's brother. The reason is because Tommy was the last person to have seen Martha alive. Littleton has already taken the stand; he is out of town, he's back home.

Tommy Skakel was actually in town. He had dinner with his brother last night. But now it turns out the prosecution has taken him off their list. They are not going to call him. They had been meeting with his lawyers, but prosecutors were not exactly sure what he was going to say when he took the stand. Was he going to answer their question? How fully would he answer the question? How forthcoming would he be? So they decided simply to take them off their witness list. If he is called it is going to be because Michael's team calls him to the stand, and we don't know whether that is going to happen.

Now, yesterday, an arrest warrant did surface. Remember, the defense was very upset that they hadn't gotten a copy of an arrest warrant sworn out for Tommy Skakel back in 1976, something that was never signed, because the state prosecutor at the time simply didn't feel there was enough evidence against Tommy.

It does give us an insight into some of the evidence -- not evidence, but some of the claims that they had made against Tommy. For example, they say that Thomas Skakel had displayed acts of violence and rage. On one occasion, he slashed an oil painting of himself across the groin area. It also says that Thomas Skakel suffered a skull fracture when he was 4 years old. Again, he was prone to outbursts of physical violence, as well as threats against his siblings.

So now the defense does have this arrest warrant. It's not clear whether they will introduce that into evident.

Right now on the stand is the tutor's ex-wife. She basically met with police and came up with a plan it try to get her husband either to deny or to confirm that he had killed Martha Moxley. She says he never made any sort of incriminating statements that anything he said concerning the death of Martha Moxley was because she had supplied him the information, trying to say, Well, don't you remember you said this? And he never did say that, according to her.

The defense was really pushing her, trying to get her to say who gave you the details as to what Ken Littleton was supposed to say. She could not remember on the stand whoever made the statement: Well, don't you remember saying she wouldn't die, so you today stab her through the neck.

All of these details that the jury is getting, and the defense trying basically to say there were other suspects, and they weren't Michael Skakel -- Daryn.

KAGAN: That would seem like that would play right into putting Tommy Skakel on the stand, which is what the prosecution, apparently, does not want to do.

Deborah Feyerick, Norwalk, Connecticut, thank you very much.

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