Reuters
August 15, 2001
Kennedy Relative Offers Alibi in Murder Case
STAMFORD, Conn. (Reuters) -- Attorneys for Kennedy family relative Michael Skakel said on Wednesday he has an alibi for the night 26 years ago on which prosecutors allege he murdered his teen-age neighbor, the first time his defense has made such a claim in court.
Skakel attorney Mickey Sherman said Skakel was at his cousin's house on the night of Oct. 30, 1975, but he declined to identify the cousin, where the cousin lived or precisely when he was there.
The body of Skakel's 15-year-old neighbor, Martha Moxley, was found bludgeoned to death with a golf club on the lawn of her parents' Greenwich, Connecticut, home early the following morning.
Skakel, also 15 at the time, is accused of her murder.
He is the nephew of Ethel Skakel Kennedy, the widow of former U.S. Attorney General Robert Kennedy.
At a pretrial hearing in Stamford Superior Court before Judge John Kavanewsky, Skakel's attorney asked prosecutors to narrow down Moxley's time of death.
But prosecutor Jonathan Benedict said forensic experts have been able only to determine that the girl was killed some time after 9:30 p.m. on Oct. 30 and before 5:30 a.m. the following day. Her body was discovered at noon on Oct. 30.
``There are no secrets in this case,'' Skakel's attorney said afterward outside the courtroom. ``My client ... was at his cousin's house at a certain time that evening, and we just wanted to ask the court what time was the time of death, so we could identify who he was with at any particular time.''
Skakel's defense team had not previously presented an alibi for their client in court for the night in question.
In January, a judge ruled Skakel should be tried as an adult. His attorneys have appealed that ruling, and a decision is expected some time this fall.
If he were tried and convicted as a juvenile, he would have faced little or no jail time. As an adult, he faces up to 60 years in prison if convicted.
At the start of the murder investigation, authorities focused on Thomas Skakel, Michael's older brother and the last person to admit to seeing Moxley alive.
But the investigation stalled for two decades until authorities found discrepancies between Michael Skakel's original statements to police and those he made to private investigators hired by his father in 1992 to clear the family name.
In January 2000, Skakel was charged on the basis of evidence gathered by a state judge who investigated Moxley's death as a one-man grand jury.
Also on Wednesday, defense attorneys submitted a motion to dismiss the case, arguing that a five-year statute of limitations on murder was in place at the time of Moxley's death and applies in this case.
The judge reserved a decision on the motion, and legal experts say the statute is vague and open to broad interpretation. No trial date has been set.
Copyright © 2001, Reuters. All rights reserved.
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