NORWALK, Conn. — A classic whodunit that haunts a powerful Connecticut family will play out in a courtroom here beginning Tuesday, more than a quarter century after someone crushed the skull of a pretty Greenwich High School sophomore with a golf club.

Michael Skakel, the 41-year-old nephew of assassinated U.S. Sen. Robert Kennedy's widow Ethel, told victim Martha Moxley's mother when he was arraigned two years ago that police "got the wrong guy." But Dorthy Moxley and her son, John, are confident police got the right guy and plan to attend each day of the trial, expected to last five weeks.

Defense lawyer Mickey Sherman has told members of the large press contingent assembled for the trial that he intends both to acquit and exonerate his client of killing Martha when both were 15. Although the prosecution has the burden of proof, Sherman will have to counter testimony from former reform school students who will say that Skakel sobbed and confessed that he killed Martha.

More than 70 media outlets are credentialed for the trial, which is not being broadcast. Satellite trucks began clogging sidestreets near the courthouse Sunday. Journalists and members of the public are expected to fill Judge John Kavanewsky Jr.'s 173-seat courtroom to hear prosecutor Jonathan Benedict call the first witness after making an opening statement Tuesday morning.

Although there is a feeling of anticipation around Norwalk Superior Court, the trial is not being conducted in a vacuum. Many of the state's witnesses have testified previously.

Courttv.com's exclusive guide to witnesses follows:

PROSECUTION WITNESSES

Daniel Hickman — Hickman was one of the first Greenwich police officers on the scene after Martha's body was found. In 1997, Hickman and former partner Millard Jones told the Greenwich Times that they recalled seeing the "handle" of the murder weapon, a broken golf club, protruding from Martha's neck. Their recollections contradict the official police version that the handle, believed to contain the initials of the defendant's deceased mother, was never recovered. Hickman, a youth officer for the department who retired and later became a Baptist minister, attended the autopsy.

Thomas Keegan — Keegan, who lives in South Carolina, was the Greenwich Police captain of detectives in 1975 and was in charge of the early investigation. He was chief of the department from 1981 until his retirement in 1986. Keegan testified in June 2000 that Martha's killer, in his opinion, broke off the handle of the golf club intentionally in an effort to conceal the fact that the Toney Penna six-iron came from the Skakel set. Keegan contradicts two subordinates at the crime scene who said the shaft of the golf club was impaled in Martha's neck.

James Lunney — Lunney, who retired as a Greenwich detective in 1987 after more than 24 years on the force, was sent to the Skakel home at about 4 p.m. on Oct. 31, 1975, because police learned quickly that Martha was last seen with Thomas Skakel the night before. Inside a first-floor mudroom, Lunney observed a Toney Penna four-iron in a barrel containing umbrellas. He testified previously that he left it there until the following day when he received consent from Ruston Skakel Sr. to search the house. Lunney said numerous witnesses told investigators that golf clubs were routinely left on the grounds by family members after chipping golf balls. Police never obtained a search warrant.

Dr. Elliot Gross — Gross was Connecticut's chief medical examiner in 1975. He conducted the autopsy on Martha's body on Nov. 1 and concluded that she was struck at least four times on the head before being stabbed in the neck as she lay dying. Gross put the time of death at between 9:30 p.m. and 5:30 a.m. He has said that Martha was not sexually assaulted and had no traces of alcohol or drugs in her system. The defense is expected to argue that, if the autopsy had been done sooner, it could have narrowed the time of death significantly and could have assisted the investigation. Gross is currently the medical examiner for Cape May County in New Jersey.

Dr. H. Wayne Carver — Carver, Connecticut's current chief medical examiner, reviewed the autopsy and is expected to narrow the time of death further. Carver did not testify at pretrial hearings.

Dr. Henry Lee — The well-known forensic investigator, who developed Connecticut's State Police Forensic Crime Laboratory into a national model, conducted numerous tests on physical evidence recovered from the scene of the Moxley murder. Although there may be testimony that a hair recovered from Michael Skakel's discarded jeans was "microscopically similar" to the victim's hair, forensic evidence is not expected to be a major issue at the trial. The jeans, which were lost sometime between 1975 and 1991, were recovered from the trash and neither the hair nor any physical evidence conclusively links Skakel to the crime. Former Greenwich garbage collectors Joseph Duran and William Duran, who found the jeans and a pair of sneakers that were also lost, are on the prosecution's list.

Helen Ix Fitzpatrick — Fitzpatrick and a few friends left with Martha for the Skakel house in the early evening of Oct. 30, 1975, but broke off from the group because of her curfew when Michael Skakel and a few others decided to visit the home of Skakel cousin James Terrien across town. Fitzpatrick and another member of the group told police in December 1975 that, as they left the area at about 9:30 p.m., they observed Martha and Thomas Skakel roughhousing playfully on the ground between the Skakels' pool and fence.

Thomas Skakel

Thomas Skakel — Thomas Skakel, now 43, was the prime suspect in Martha's murder in the early years. Although police also suspected neighbor Edward Hammond and Skakel family tutor Kenneth Littleton, Thomas Skakel stood out from the crowd by virtue of the fact that he was the last one seen with Martha and his account of his movements on Oct. 31, 1975, did not add up. Many years later, there was renewed interest in Thomas Skakel as a suspect. He reportedly changed his story and admitted that he and Martha engaged in mutual masturbation at about 9:30 p.m.

Emmanuel "Manny" Margolis — Margolis, an attorney who has known the Skakel family since before the murder, represents Thomas Skakel. Although a prosecutor said in court that there will be evidence that the Skakel family impeded the investigation, it is not clear what Margolis' contribution to the prosecution will be.

Kenneth Littleton

Kenneth Littleton — Littleton, who became an alcoholic and developed serious psychiatric problems after the murder, was hired by Rushton Skakel Sr. to be a live-in tutor for his seven children. Martha was murdered on Littleton's first night of work. Littleton is expected to testify that Michael Skakel and other siblings were drinking alcohol during a family dinner that night at the Belle Haven Club. Rushton Skakel was out of town. The family returned home at about 9 p.m., and the children scattered. Following a burglary charge on Nantucket in 1976, Littleton caught investigators' attention and in the early 1990s, he became the prime suspect in the murder. Judge John Kavanewsky Jr. has yet to rule to what extent the defense can point an accusing finger at Littleton in defense of Michael Skakel.

Mildred "Cissy" Ix — Ix was very close to Michael Skakel's mother, Ann Reynolds Skakel, before her death from cancer in 1973. Ix became a sort of surrogate mother to the Skakel children and was looking after them the day Martha's body was found, according to several accounts.

Sheila McGuire — McGuire, a friend of Martha's, testified in 2000 that she was cutting through the Moxley property at about 12:15 p.m. on Oct. 31, 1975, when she saw from a distance what looked like pink egg crate foam. Moving closer, McGuire discovered the object was the body of Martha, whose mother reported her missing in the wee hours of the morning. McGuire was near hysterics when she banged on the door of the Moxley home to report what she found. McGuire testified that she did not see the shaft of the broken golf club protruding from Martha's neck as two police officers will testify.

Jackie Wetenhall O'Hara — O'Hara spent much of the early evening of Oct. 30, 1975, with Martha and accompanied her to the Skakel home several times while Michael, Thomas, Kenneth Littleton and others were dining at the Belle Haven Club. A friend of Martha's, O'Hara's father, John H. Wetenhall, was president of the National Dairy Corp. O'Hara told a New York Times reporter on Oct. 31 that she left the Skakel home alone at about 9 p.m. the night before.

Lawrence Zicarelli — Zicarelli, a former Skakel family driver, is expected to testify that Michael Skakel threatened to jump from the Triborough Bridge in New York in 1978 because he had done "something bad." The defense is expected to fight to keep the testimony out of evidence as vague and more prejudicial than probative.

Gregory Coleman

Gregory Coleman — Coleman died of a heroin overdose last year but the Rochester, N.Y., man's testimony lives on in pretrial transcripts. The defense is fighting to keep those transcripts out of the trial, arguing that Coleman's testimony was unreliable, colored by drug abuse and that he is not available to be properly cross-examined. Coleman testified that Michael Skakel confessed to killing Martha while both were residents of Maine's Elan School in the late 1970s. Coleman testified that Skakel announced at Elan, "I am going to get away with murder. I am a Kennedy." Coleman's wife, Elizabeth Coleman, also appears on the prosecution's witness list.

John Higgins — Higgins, another former Elan resident, testified previously that Michael Skakel confessed to killing "someone" during an emotional exchange in the late 1970s. "He eventually stated that 'I must have done it' and eventually stated 'I did it,'" Higgins, a reluctant witness, testified in 2000. Higgins withered, however, on cross-examination and made several statements that the defense has characterized as lies. Before leaving Elan, Higgins related the content of this conversation with Skakel to prosecution witness Harry Kranick, the Elan "night man" on duty. Before leaving Elan, Higgins also related Skakel's alleged statements to another Elan student, prosecution witness Chuck Seigan.

Andrew Pugh — Pugh was 14 years old and a Belle Haven friend of Michael Skakel's in 1975. Pugh testified in 2000 that he and Skakel often climbed a large pine tree on the Moxley property under which Martha's body was found. In the early 1990s, Skakel told Pugh in a phone conversation that he had been on the Moxley property on the night of the murder masturbating, according to testimony. The evidence, if true, could be painted by the prosecution as an effort by Skakel to explain away any forensic evidence being developed as the science was rapidly evolving at the time. Another friend, Michael Meredith, is also on the prosecution list. The son of former pro football player turned sportscaster Don Meredith, Michael Meredith told USA Today that Skakel claimed in the mid-1980s that he climbed a tree outside Martha's bedroom window but climbed down and ran home afer his older brother Thomas crossed the lawn.

Richard Hoffman — Hoffman, an author, collaborated with Michael Skakel on an ill-fated book proposal for "Dead Man Talking: A Kennedy Cousin Comes Clean." In the proposal, Skakel writes about his attraction for Martha, his battle to overcome alcoholism and dyslexia, and his forced entrance into Elan following a drunken police pursuit and crash in March 1978. Hoffman turned over hours of recorded interviews with Skakel to investigators when they showed up at his home with a search warrant. It is unclear what, if anything, is potentially incriminating on those tapes.

Diane Hozman — Hozman, now a therapist in California, attended Elan with Skakel and is expected to testify that he confided that he was sent to Elan because of a "hometown" murder but he was not sure whether he committed the crime or not.

Marisa Verochi — Verochi, now in her early 20s, was a babysitter for Michael Kennedy's children before he died in a skiing accident in 1997. Skakel claims in his book proposal that Verochi, who was allegedly sleeping with Michael Kennedy, went to him for help when Kennedy began "stalking her." Verochi's contributions to the Skakel prosecution are unclear, as are those of related witnesses Matt Attanian and Gerrane Ridge. Verochi also may be called by the defense.

Matthew Tucciarone — Tucciarone, 57, owns Beau Monde Coiffures in Greenwich and reportedly used to cut Michael Skakel's hair. The Hartford Courant reported that Tucciarone may testify that Skakel made statements that may have implicated himself while Tucciarone was styling his hair.

Other prospective prosecution witnesses include retired criminalist James McDonald and retired police officers Thomas Sorenson, Richard Hope and Robert Mills. Martha's friends Andrea Shakespeare, Dorothy Rogers and Marjorie Walker may also be called. Rushton Skakel Sr., who is elderly and in poor health, is on the list too. Dorthy Moxley, Martha's mother, and son John Moxley are also expected to be called.

DEFENSE WITNESSES

Much shorter than the prosecution list, the defense's prospective witness list includes a number of former Elan students, including Sara Petersen, Ken Zaretsky and Angela Hawkins McFillin.

Although they did not testify at the pretrial hearings, the defense's Elan witnesses are expected to discuss the controversial methods employed at the facility for wayward teens and young adults. The defense denies that Skakel ever confessed but contends that statements he may have made about being uncertain whether he was involved were the product of brow-beating and questionable tactics by counselors and students.

The defendant may also call character witnesses, alibi witnesses and witnesses who are expected to testify about Belle Haven's now-infamous barking dogs.

Defense lawyer Mickey Sherman is expected to try to prove that Michael Skakel was either at his cousin's home or en route about the time a number of family pets became upset almost simultaneously. If jurors believe that testimony about dogs barking at about 10 p.m. is evidence that the attack on Martha began then, Skakel's alibi is pivotal for the defense.

The defense witness list also includes:

Robert Bjork — Bjork is expected to testify that his dog became aroused by some commotion in Belle Haven during the period of time Skakel claims he was across town at the home of his cousin.

Dr. Edward Fleischli — Dr. Fleischli is a veterinarian in Pound Ridge, N.Y., not far from Greenwich on the New York-Connecticut border. The defense will not say why Fleischli may be a witness, but his testimony is expected to concern animal behavior, specifically barking dogs.

Dr. Joseph Jachimczyk — Now retired, Houston's longtime chief medical examiner, a Connecticut native, is expected to give his own opinions about Martha's murder and the time of death based on his review of autopsy records and photos.

Courtney Kennedy — The only Kennedy to appear on either witness list, Courtney Kennedy and husband Paul Hill are potential character witnesses for Skakel. Courtney Kennedy's mother, Ethel Skakel Kennedy, is the sister of Michael Skakel's father. Hill spent time in a British prison before a judge ruled that evidence linking him to the Irish Republican Army was fabricated.

Ethel Jones — Jones, who now lives in Georgia, was the Skakel family cook in 1975.

James Terrien — Also known as James Dowdle, Terrien is Michael Skakel's first cousin and corroborates his alibi from about 9:30 p.m. to about 11:15 p.m. on Oct. 30, 1975. Terrien, who the defense says lives in Abaco, Bahamas, was extremely close to Michael Skakel. Terrien's mother, prospective defense witness Georgeann Dowdle, is a sister of Ruston Skakel Sr. and Ethel Skakel Kennedy.

Jack Solomon — Solomon and prosecution investigator Frank Garr, a retired Greenwich police detective, rekindled the investigation in 1991 after rumors surfaced at William Kennedy Smith's rape trial that Smith, another famous Kennedy cousin, was a guest at the Skakel home on Oct. 30, 1975. The rumor was untrue, but Solomon and Garr were determined anew to find Martha's killer. They focused not on Michael Skakel, however, but on Kenneth Littleton. Solomon is currently chief of the Town of Easton Police Department in Connecticut.

The defense list concludes with the names of three Skakel siblings, Rushton Jr., Julie and John Skakel. Sherman told prospective jurors that he was not sure if Michael Skakel will testify, but reminded them that he is not obligated to testify in his own defense.

The trial is expected to last five weeks.