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American Morning
Was Skakel's Conviction Really a Miscarriage of Justice?
Aired January 15, 2003 - 08:16 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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: In June, Michael Skakel was convicted of the murder of Martha Moxley. Now, in an article in "Atlantic Monthly" there is an argument that he is innocent. The piece was written by Skakel's cousin, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Was Skakel's conviction really a miscarriage of justice or is this just a case of family ties?
Well, Martha Moxley's mother Dorthy Moxley joins us this morning from her home in New Jersey.
Good morning.
Thanks so much for joining us again this morning.
DORTHY MOXLEY, MARTHA MOXLEY'S MOTHER: Good morning, Paula.
ZAHN: I don't know if you had a chance to read this article in "Atlantic Monthly," but one of the things that Bobby Kennedy, Jr. states first is that this case is very baffling.
Let's put this quote up on the screen now. He says, "The case has remained unsolved for so many years not because of Skakel wealth, power and cancers, because simply it is baffling." And he goes on to question the conviction of Michael Skakel throughout this article.
What's your reaction?
MOXLEY: To those of us who were there every day for the trial, it is just very clear and very obvious that Michael is guilty and that, you know, justice was served. There was a wonderful prosecutor, a wonderful detective. Frank Garr (ph) worked so hard for so many years. And the jury, you know, of his peers. Anyway, I really think that if Mr. Kennedy had been there for the complete trial, like I was, he probably wouldn't feel this way.
ZAHN: Let's also put up on the screen something he said about the man who he thinks is responsible for the death of your daughter. He points to Skakel's former tutor, Kenneth Littleton, as the possible suspect here. He writes that nearly a year after the murder, the police examiners gave Littleton three lie detector tests and, "Each test indicated that Littleton was lying when he denied killing Martha Moxley." And according to Kennedy, Littleton actually went on to fail two more polygraph tests over the years and he believes that people dropped the ball on this one.
What do you say about that? MOXLEY: Oh, no. Mr. Littleton has many problems, many, many, many problems. And I think that part of his problems stem from this fear of being accused of killing Martha. We, you know, at the trial they covered Mr. Littleton's case very, very, very thoroughly and it was just so obvious that he had absolutely nothing to do with this, nothing to do with the actual killing of Martha.
ZAHN: Bobby Kennedy also writes he believes part of the reason why the cops came after Michael Skakel, that they were driven by this desire to go after some sort of high profile case to so-called get a Kennedy. And you've talked a little bit more about the kind of publicity that arose out of this case. What do you say to that?
MOXLEY: You know, when -- my husband died in 1988 and I then was in charge of anything that happened, and in 1991 when the police decided to reopen the case and Dominick Dunne (ph) came to me, I was a mother that nobody, you know, I didn't think anything would ever happen with this case. Nothing would ever happen. And Dominick and I shared our stories of how his daughter was murdered and my daughter was murdered. And he has been very, very kind and good to me and he's worked very hard to find justice for Martha.
Dominick is a friend and the reason I'm here this morning is I really just didn't think that I should not say something about the fact that you know, Dominick was a very big help. It was Frank, the lead detective, who really did all of the actual work in getting the case to trial. But, you know, it was people like Dominick and Mark Fuhrman who, well, they helped me and I'm sure that their interest in the case made other people interested, also.
But I, you know, I think that the Skakels had very good lawyers. Mr. Margolis would not let anybody talk to the Skakels for years. And Mr. Kennedy says that the Skakels cooperated. They cooperated until they realized that the boys were suspects. And in the beginning, Tommy was the suspect because we believed Michael's alibi. But then Michael, Michael destroyed his own alibi.
So, you know, justice was served, I think. I really believe that Michael Skakel killed my daughter.
ZAHN: Well, we appreciate your coming on to react to this piece in "Atlantic Monthly" by Bobby Kennedy, Jr., because it's a tough one and, again, we appreciate your time.
Just one real quick thing. Is it true that at the end of the trial when Mickey Sherman, the man defending Michael Skakel, ran into the green room of CNN that he told you he was happy for you? That's another thing that ticked off Bobby Kennedy, Jr.
MOXLEY: At the end of the trial, you know, we were going to all the television stations. And, yes, we were in the green room at CNN. And I have known Mickey Asherman from before he worked for the Skakels. I do believe he was just being kind to me. He did say something to that effect. But it wasn't anything to do with the fact that, you know, he was happy he had lost the case, that's for sure.
ZAHN: Sure.
MOXLEY: And he was just being kind.
ZAHN: All right, we've got to leave it there this morning.
Dorthy Moxley, again, thank you very much for joining us this morning.
MOXLEY: Thank you for having me.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired January 15, 2003 - 08:16 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: In June, Michael Skakel was convicted of the murder of Martha Moxley. Now, in an article in "Atlantic Monthly" there is an argument that he is innocent. The piece was written by Skakel's cousin, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Was Skakel's conviction really a miscarriage of justice or is this just a case of family ties?
Well, Martha Moxley's mother Dorthy Moxley joins us this morning from her home in New Jersey.
Good morning.
Thanks so much for joining us again this morning.
DORTHY MOXLEY, MARTHA MOXLEY'S MOTHER: Good morning, Paula.
ZAHN: I don't know if you had a chance to read this article in "Atlantic Monthly," but one of the things that Bobby Kennedy, Jr. states first is that this case is very baffling.
Let's put this quote up on the screen now. He says, "The case has remained unsolved for so many years not because of Skakel wealth, power and cancers, because simply it is baffling." And he goes on to question the conviction of Michael Skakel throughout this article.
What's your reaction?
MOXLEY: To those of us who were there every day for the trial, it is just very clear and very obvious that Michael is guilty and that, you know, justice was served. There was a wonderful prosecutor, a wonderful detective. Frank Garr (ph) worked so hard for so many years. And the jury, you know, of his peers. Anyway, I really think that if Mr. Kennedy had been there for the complete trial, like I was, he probably wouldn't feel this way.
ZAHN: Let's also put up on the screen something he said about the man who he thinks is responsible for the death of your daughter. He points to Skakel's former tutor, Kenneth Littleton, as the possible suspect here. He writes that nearly a year after the murder, the police examiners gave Littleton three lie detector tests and, "Each test indicated that Littleton was lying when he denied killing Martha Moxley." And according to Kennedy, Littleton actually went on to fail two more polygraph tests over the years and he believes that people dropped the ball on this one.
What do you say about that? MOXLEY: Oh, no. Mr. Littleton has many problems, many, many, many problems. And I think that part of his problems stem from this fear of being accused of killing Martha. We, you know, at the trial they covered Mr. Littleton's case very, very, very thoroughly and it was just so obvious that he had absolutely nothing to do with this, nothing to do with the actual killing of Martha.
ZAHN: Bobby Kennedy also writes he believes part of the reason why the cops came after Michael Skakel, that they were driven by this desire to go after some sort of high profile case to so-called get a Kennedy. And you've talked a little bit more about the kind of publicity that arose out of this case. What do you say to that?
MOXLEY: You know, when -- my husband died in 1988 and I then was in charge of anything that happened, and in 1991 when the police decided to reopen the case and Dominick Dunne (ph) came to me, I was a mother that nobody, you know, I didn't think anything would ever happen with this case. Nothing would ever happen. And Dominick and I shared our stories of how his daughter was murdered and my daughter was murdered. And he has been very, very kind and good to me and he's worked very hard to find justice for Martha.
Dominick is a friend and the reason I'm here this morning is I really just didn't think that I should not say something about the fact that you know, Dominick was a very big help. It was Frank, the lead detective, who really did all of the actual work in getting the case to trial. But, you know, it was people like Dominick and Mark Fuhrman who, well, they helped me and I'm sure that their interest in the case made other people interested, also.
But I, you know, I think that the Skakels had very good lawyers. Mr. Margolis would not let anybody talk to the Skakels for years. And Mr. Kennedy says that the Skakels cooperated. They cooperated until they realized that the boys were suspects. And in the beginning, Tommy was the suspect because we believed Michael's alibi. But then Michael, Michael destroyed his own alibi.
So, you know, justice was served, I think. I really believe that Michael Skakel killed my daughter.
ZAHN: Well, we appreciate your coming on to react to this piece in "Atlantic Monthly" by Bobby Kennedy, Jr., because it's a tough one and, again, we appreciate your time.
Just one real quick thing. Is it true that at the end of the trial when Mickey Sherman, the man defending Michael Skakel, ran into the green room of CNN that he told you he was happy for you? That's another thing that ticked off Bobby Kennedy, Jr.
MOXLEY: At the end of the trial, you know, we were going to all the television stations. And, yes, we were in the green room at CNN. And I have known Mickey Asherman from before he worked for the Skakels. I do believe he was just being kind to me. He did say something to that effect. But it wasn't anything to do with the fact that, you know, he was happy he had lost the case, that's for sure.
ZAHN: Sure.
MOXLEY: And he was just being kind.
ZAHN: All right, we've got to leave it there this morning.
Dorthy Moxley, again, thank you very much for joining us this morning.
MOXLEY: Thank you for having me.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
