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American Morning

Highly Publicized Connecticut Murder Trial Getting Under Way With Jury Selection

Aired April 02, 2002 - 08:48   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.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: A highly publicized Connecticut murder trial is getting under way this morning with jury selection. Michael Skakel, nephew of Ethel Kennedy, is accused of a crime that took place 26 years ago when both he and his alleged victim were just 15 years old. Martha Moxley was Skakel's neighbor at the time. She was found beaten to death with a golf club outside her home in October of 1995. At the heart of the prosecution's care are confessions that Skakel allegedly made in the years following the murder.

The defense says it will use the state's own witnesses to disprove the case.

Author Dominic Dunne has followed the Moxley murder case, and writes about the trial in the May issue of "Vanity Fair." He joins us this morning from outside the courthouse in Norwalk, Connecticut.

Hi, Dominic, how you doing this morning?

DOMINIC DUNNE, "VANITY FAIR": Hi, Paula.

ZAHN: If you would, walk us through the most obvious arguments that the jury's going to hear from both sides.

DUNNE: Oh, golly, golly. Well, I think that that the -- what the -- I'm in favor of the prosecution in this trial, as I am in every trial that I cover, and I think that there have been a sufficient number of confessions of Michael Skakel, Some of those will easily be discredited by the defense because they were students at the Elan (ph) school, which is a school for troubled drug and alcoholic kids, where Michael was sent for two years.

One of the main witnesses from that school has subsequently died of a drug overdose. But I think what they have going for them, mostly, is that the murder weapon, the golf club, was from a set of clubs that belonged to the late mother of Michael Skakel, and that were in the hallway of the house. I know the defense is going to say that the club was lying on the lawn and somebody else could have picked it up, but I find that very improbable.

ZAHN: And, Dominic, yesterday, I actually interviewed Mickey Sherman, who is, of course, representing Michael Skakel, and I asked him if his client didn't murder Martha Moxley, who did? Here's what he had to say. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICKEY SHERMAN, SKAKEL'S LAWYER: If he knew, and he knew, he would be the first one to rat the person out, no matter who it was. He doesn't know. He wasn't there, he didn't do it, had no part in it, and has no knowledge of it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: Well, now it seems the team has taken to this little piece of information that the Associated Press provided, where they found a hair at the crime scene that apparently is, in some way, related to that of the Skakel's live-in tutor. Do you think this evidence is going to be meaningful at all?

DUNNE: I do not. I absolutely do not think so, Paula. I mean, if that -- the tutor was called Ken Littleton. It was his first -- he was a live-in tutor. It was his first night on the job. Believe me, if they could have pinned this on Ken Littleton, they would have done it 25 years ago. He has subsequently had a tragic life and so forth. But I think that this hair that was found belonging to him is -- was put out just to confuse the issue. I don't think Ken Littleton had anything to do with this murder.

ZAHN: And several other sources are saying they can't even make a forensics match-up there.

Now several members of the Kennedy family are expected to attend this trial. Who can we expect to see?

DUNNE: Well, I hear that Ethel is -- Ethel Kennedy, Ethel Skakel Kennedy, is going to come. I find this very, very interesting, because Michael Skakel, before he was indicted, before the grand jury, had a book proposal called "Dead Man Walking: A Kennedy Cousin Speaks," in which he is highly critical of Ethel Kennedy for the death of David Kennedy in the Brazilian Court Hotel of a drug overdose.

He says that she had enlisted him to put David Kennedy into a drug rehab, but that he could not use the Kennedy name and, therefore, he couldn't get him in on short notice. So he was very critical of his aunt. So it's interesting to me she is planning to be here. He was very critical of his Kennedy cousins, and they, apparently, are also going to be here.

ZAHN: We will look forward to your observations as this trial gets under way. I know Mickey Sherman (ph) predicted the jury selection alone could take a month, so you could be standing outside that courtroom for a long time.

Dominic Dunne, thank you, appreciate you joining us.

DUNNE: Thank you, Paula.

ZAHN: Good luck with your coverage.

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