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By John Springer
Court TV
The gardener, the limousine driver, the live-in tutor, reform school classmates — the witness list recently leaked out in the upcoming murder trial of Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel reads like a script from a fictional courtroom drama.
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| Martha Moxley |
Skakel, the 41-year-old son of affluence and privilege, is accused by prosecutors of using a 6-iron from his deceased mother's monogrammed golf club set to crush the skull of Greenwich, Conn., teen Martha Moxley. The club's shattered shaft was then plunged into the popular 15-year-old's neck, ending Martha's life on a cold October night in 1975.
Despite the pre-trial hype and the sensational aspects of the grisly crime itself, longtime followers of the 26-year-old case are not expecting any Perry Mason-like surprises in the courtroom.
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| Defense lawyer Mickey Sherman |
Prosecutor Jonathan Benedict is not very likely to produce a video of Skakel dragging Martha's body and hiding it under the large pine tree where it was found the next day. And Skakel's high-profile lawyer, Mickey Sherman, probably will not be able to elicit any confessions from prosecution witnesses who may have once been suspects themselves.
Neither Benedict nor Sherman will discuss their witness lists, but published reports say that the prosecution provided the defense with the names of 33 people who might be called when testimony begins May 7. Many of the witnesses on the list testified before a grand jury in 1998, a juvenile court judge in 2000 and a superior court judge last year.
"There are really no mysteries in this case, on either side," Sherman said during an appearance Thursday on Court TV's "Crier Live" program. "I know what their strategy is. They previewed it during several hearing that we have had ... Some of those names are not really relevant."
The prosecution's witness list includes the name of a former babysitter for the children of the late Michael Kennedy, who was accused of having a sexual relationship with the unidentified teenager. Kennedy died in a skiing accident in 1997. Skakel, the nephew of Ethel Skakel Kennedy and the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, cooperated with detectives investigating his cousin but it is not clear what the babysitter might contribute to the Connecticut murder case.
Sherman said a second prosecution list includes the names of witnesses who attended Elan School, the Maine reform school Skakel attended for two years following a 1978 drunken driving arrest in Windham, N.Y.
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| Prosecutor Jonathan Benedict |
Although the prosecution lists are tentative and are not contained in the court file, the public record contains a great deal of information about potential witnesses and what they have already said. The partial list that follows was derived from transcripts of pre-trial testimony:
Witnesses
Sheila McGuire — A friend of Martha's who lived nearby in the Belle Haven section of Greenwich, Sheila McGuire found Martha's body beneath a large pine tree on the Moxley's property about 12:15 p.m. on Oct. 31, 1975. From a distance, McGuire first thought the body was an egg crate. McGuire was adamant that she did not see the shaft of the broken golf club protruding from the body;
Thomas Keegan — Thomas Keegan retired as Greenwich police chief in 1986 but, as captain of detectives, supervised the murder investigation 11 years earlier. Keegan testified that the leather handle of the golf club was never located and no one was linked to the crime by fingerprints. Keegan acknowledged that police investigated the possibility that a transient killed Martha and, for a period of time, considered Skakel's brother, Thomas, and the Skakel's live-in tutor Ken Littleton as suspects;
Kenneth Littleton — The Skakel's tutor, Kenneth Littleton had only just moved into the Skakel home when the murder occurred. Littleton later received immunity from prosecution for testifying before the grand jury. However, he was not called during the 2000 and 2001 probable cause hearings;
Rushton Skakel Sr. — The defendant's father gave police access to his children, staff and home for nearly three months but stopped cooperating when detectives sought records from Thomas Skakel's private school in January, 1976. Rushton Skakel commissioned an investigation by Sutton Associates, which issued findings that cast doubt on the accounts given to police by Thomas Skakel and Michael Skakel about their movements on the night Martha was killed. The Sutton Associates report found its way to investigators;
Thomas Skakel — For years, Thomas Skakel was a primary suspect in the killing, but was never charged and, like the defendant, denies any involvement. According to the Sutton Associates report, Thomas Skakel lied to police about his movements on Oct. 30, 1975, and may have "fooled" at least one polygraph machine;
James Lunney — The retired Greenwich police detective noticed a 4-iron in a barrel in the Skakel home on the day Martha's body was found and went back the following day, pursuant to a consent to search signed by Rushton Skakel, to seize the club. A criminalist concluded that the 4-iron and the murder weapon came from the same set;
John Higgins — Now 39, Higgins attended Elan School with Michael Skakel in the late 1970s. His testimony is seen as key to the prosecution's case. Higgins testified in 2000 and again last year that while he and Michael Skakel were serving as lookouts for runaways, Skakel tearfully confessed that he might have killed someone but was not sure. According to Higgins, Skakel told him that he only remembers running around among trees with a golf club he got from the family garage before blacking out. The defense called Higgins a liar and noted that the Skakel's did not have a garage, although there was a shed. Sherman made much of the fact, during the pre-trial hearings, that Higgins did not step forward until he learned of a reward offer and was adamant that he would not be subject to a polygraph or hypnosis;
Gregory Coleman — The Rochester, N.Y., man died of a heroin overdose last summer at age 39, but he could play a role during the trial. Benedict has indicated that he will try to get a transcript of pre-trial testimony into evidence. Coleman admitted last year that he was high on heroin when he told the grand jury in 1999 that Michael Skakel confessed five or six times while at Elan that he killed Martha. Coleman testified in June 2000 that when he suggested that Skakel was afforded many privileges at Elan and could get away with murder, Skakel allegedly replied, "I'm going to get away with murder. I'm a Kennedy." Coleman claimed that Skakel confessed to killing Martha with a golf "driver" and that he returned to the body "days" later and masturbated on it. Coleman also testified that during a "primal scream" therapy session, Skakel yelled repeatedly "I am sorry." The defense has argued that the statement concerned Skakel's lingering guilt over his mother's 1973 death from cancer. Coleman's wife, Elizabeth Coleman, is reportedly listed as a tentative prosecution witness. She may be needed to testify that Gregory Coleman offered her similar accounts of the alleged confession;
Andrew Pugh — Pugh was Michael Skakel's best friend in 1975 and lived in the same neighborhood as the Skakels and Moxleys. According to Pugh, Skakel was infatuated with Martha. After a chance meeting at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting in the early 1990s rekindled their friendship briefly, Pugh said Skakel noticed that he was distant and called Pugh to discuss it. He said Skakel denied involvement in the killing but admitted that he climbed a tree at the crime scene and masturbated. The defendant, police officers will testify, initially told investigators he visited his cousin's house and went home to bed.
Richard Hoffman — An author, Hoffman and Skakel collaborated on an unsuccessful book project that is expected to figure prominently at the trial. Hoffman has been quoted as saying that he does not believe Michael Skakel killed Martha. In the book proposal for "Dead Man Talking: A Kennedy Cousin Comes Clean," Skakel admits he was attracted to Martha and that he lied to investigators for reasons unrelated to any involvement in the crime. Prosecutors reportedly have nine hours of taped interviews Hoffman conducted with Skakel for the outline and sample chapters.
Henry Lee — The famous Connecticut forensic scientist made even more-famous by his testimony during O.J. Simpson's murder trial, Henry Lee's team at the Connecticut State Police Forensic Crime Laboratory produced a 6-inch thick report on evidence collected during the Moxley investigation for prosecutors. It is not known what the report says and Lee refuses discuss it. If there is a big wild card during the Skakel trial, it could be forensic evidence. DNA technology, which had not been invented as of 1975, is constantly evolving.
Not much is known about the defense's witness list. In the past, Sherman's witnesses included former Elan students and staff who cast doubt on the credibility of John Higgins and Gregory Coleman. Several defense witnesses testified that Skakel and other students were sometimes put into a boxing ring and pummelled until they made admissions; it was supposed to be part of their controversial therapy.
If the jury hears similar testimony about Skakel's alleged Elan admissions, the defense is expected to try to establish that Skakel's position on Martha's killing evolved from "I didn't do it" to "I don't know" in order to stop the beatings and humiliation.
Jury selection is scheduled to begin April 2.
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