STAMFORD, Conn. — A lawyer for Michael Skakel sparred Friday with a former newspaper reporter credited with reviving the Martha Moxley murder investigation in the mid-1990s, charging that the journalist and the lead investigator on the case had a secret book deal that influenced the prosecution.

Leonard Levitt, a former Newsday reporter who collaborated with investigator Frank Garr for a 2004 book, "Conviction," on the case, insisted during testimony that Garr refused to help in any detail until after Skakel's trial.

Skakel, the 46-year-old nephew of Ethel Kennedy, was convicted of Martha Moxley's murder in 2002, exhausted his appeals and is now seeking a retrial based on new evidence.

At the heart of the new evidence is a claim by Gitano "Tony" Bryant of Miami that two friends made incriminating statements days after the Oct. 30, 1975, murder of 15-year-old Martha. Bryant, whose name never surfaced during a quarter-century of investigation, claims the men said they went "caveman" on Martha, who was bludgeoned and stabbed with a golf club.

Levitt's newspaper investigation highlighted inconsistencies in statements Michael Skakel gave over the years. During his reporting, Levitt met Garr, a retired detective hired by the prosecutor's office to revive what was then a very cold case.

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Levitt testified that he and Garr bonded and shared a "professional" friendship that often spilled over into social settings. Levitt said he asked Garr about cooperating with a long magazine piece or book over the years, but denied the two ever had a formal agreement until after Skakel was convicted. Levitt said he received very little after expenses for "Conviction," but did not put a dollar amount on his earnings.

Defense attorney Hubert Santos tried repeatedly to get Levitt to admit that he and Garr had a "secret book deal" all along, which Santos said was rumored even before the verdict. Levitt argued several times, but stood his ground. He insisted the relationship did not cross any boundaries, and he was surprised after Garr did begin cooperating just how much about the case Levitt had not known.

Santos noted that Garr stands to receive half of any future royalties or movie deals. Levitt agreed, and said he'd gladly share the profits with his friend.

"Do you like the books you write to make money?" Santos asked.

"Of course, but maybe you can tell me how, because I've been relatively unsuccessful at it so far," Levitt said.

"Well, you have to write truthful ones," Santos said.

"Conviction" is largely a story about Levitt's fight to get his investigative pieces printed after running into roadblocks from his editors, because of the fingers it pointed at the powerful Skakel family. It also credits Garr, and to a lesser degree Levitt, for cracking a case that went on so long and focused on so many suspects.

Skakel's trial lawyer, Mickey Sherman, testified for a second day Friday about his efforts to compel prosecutors to turn over evidence of other suspects investigated over the years. Sherman again admitted that he had contact with a Bryant intermediary, Crawford Mills, but insisted Mills never named Bryant and instead promoted a fictional screenplay based on the case.

Sherman said he stopped short of placing his notes about Mills in his "nuts file," a file containing information and wild speculation supplied by people drawn to the case by intense media coverage.

The big case brings out the big nuts," Sherman explained. "For some reason, people want to be part of the circus, if you will."

Prosecutor Jonathan Benedict has yet to assign a motive for the story Bryant is now telling about two other previously unknown suspects. Instead, the veteran prosecutor has been arguing that Superior Court Judge Edward Karazin Jr. should find the evidence inadmissible, not credible and something Sherman could have uncovered with a little legwork prior to the trial.