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American Morning

Interview with Vinnie Politan

Aired August 28, 2002 - 07:09   ET

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

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: We want to get to Connecticut now about 30 minutes from where we are right now sentencing day for Michael Skakel. But as with most of this case, it is not likely to be a simple matter.
Skakel found guilty of murdering Martha Moxley 27 years ago. Now, his legal teams wants the verdict against him thrown out, claiming prosecutors failed to turn over a vital piece of evidence.

In Norwalk, Connecticut this morning, Vinnie Politan has been covering the trial for Court Television. He is with us.

Vinnie, good to see you -- good morning to you.

VINNIE POLITAN, COURT TV CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill. How are you doing?

HEMMER: I'm doing just fine, thank you.

We want to talk about this sketch, first of all. The defense claims that the prosecutors essentially hid it from them. How critical is it? And whose picture is displayed here?

POLITAN: Well, it depends who you ask whose picture it is, but it's really interesting the way this all came about. It didn't come into the defense's hands until a few days ago, after the trial.

And if you look at the picture and you look at Kenneth Littleton -- a man who was a suspect at one time in this case, a man who the defense says may very well have done this -- there is a similarity.

So it's a real issue that has to be dealt with this morning with this judge.

HEMMER: No one saw this murder, right, Vinnie?

POLITAN: What's that?

HEMMER: No one saw this murder take place. Who provided the sketch and the description for this right here?

POLITAN: The description came from a special police officer, who worked in the neighborhood, who saw a man early in the evening around 7:30; then saw the same person, he believes, at around 9:30, 10:00, which is the time of the murder, near the murder scene, which is why it's so important. Now, if the defense had had this sketch during the trial, during closing arguments, Mickey Sherman could have got up, held up a picture of the sketch, and said, you know, no one saw the murder, but this guy was near the murder scene. Who does he look like? Hold up another picture. There is Kenneth Littleton.

So it was very important evidence that was not given to the defense. Why it wasn't given to them isn't clear at this time, and I think that's something this judge has to flesh out.

HEMMER: What about the judge? What does he rule in this case? Is this much ado about nothing, or not?

POLITAN: No, this is a real issue. For this judge to make this decision, he's got to find out, No. 1, why it wasn't handed over. Then, No, 2, he's got to determine whether or not -- how important it was that they didn't get this sketch. Would it have been enough for this jury to find him not guilty?

So it's a difficult burden for the defense, but I think they have a real argument here. But the way the rulings have gone in this case, Bill, every ruling against the defense, it looks like this judge probably will deny this motion as well.

HEMMER: All right, Vinnie, we will stand by for that a bit later.

But as we await that, let's talk about the sentencing here. There's a minimum and a maximum. There are laws that date back 27 years. Flesh it out for us. What are the possibilities?

POLITAN: Now, we're going back to 1975. The minimum sentence that this judge can hand down to Michael Skakel is 10 to 25 years. That's the sentencing range. The maximum he can give him is 25 to life.

Now, he can also give him anything in between those two. So you have a minimum and a maximum, and he can land anywhere in between with a bottom number and a top number.

Now, what's really important here, Bill, though, is what does it mean in real time? In real time, if he gets that bottom number, if he gets good time credits, which is what the law was back then, he could be out as early as 2008 after five years and nine months.

HEMMER: Hang on one second. What are good time credits, Vinnie? Define that.

POLITAN: Well, if he's put into prison, and he doesn't get into trouble, he's entitled to good time credits, as long as he, you know, clears way of any sort of incidents while he's inside the prison, which is something many inmates are able to do.

So it's very realistic that as a prisoner he'll get these credits. And if he gets these credits and he's sentenced to 10 to 25, he could be out by 2008. HEMMER: Got it. What do you think, does Michael Skakel take the stand, speak up for himself at this point, or not?

POLITAN: Well, I think if he does speak today, it's going to be under a very controlled situation, because as we heard from those tapes that were played in the courtroom as evidence against him, his own words are really what found him guilty in the eyes of this jury.

So I think if he is allowed to speak by his attorney, and he has the right to speak, he's going to somehow have something that's prepared and be very controlled. But I think he does have to address the judge.

HEMMER: Thank you, Vinnie -- Vinnie Politan. We'll all know eventually as the day progresses. Thank you much, from Court Television.

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