The Journal News from White Plains, New York • Page 6

6A Saturday, June 8, 2002 The Journal News From Page One www.thejournalnews.com THE LEGAL ANGLE Prosecutors triumph in a long-shot case receptive audience," Benedict said after yesterday's verdict "I think everybody, or 90 percent of the people in the courtroom, wanted to see me connect the dots, wanted to hear what I had to say." Alternate juror Anne Layton said she was leaning heavily toward conviction, but described Benedict's closing argument as the clincher. "I think he did an incredible job," she said. Defense attorney Michael Sherman, who vowed to appeal the verdict, complained about the multimedia presentation that ended the closing arguments a projected photo of a smiling Martha Moxley that dissolved into a grim crime scene photo. "I think mat had the effect of inflaming the jury," Sherman said. David Crary The Associated Press With no physical evidence or eyewitnesses, and despite a 27-year gap that blurred memories, prosecutors in the murder trial of Michael Skakel prevailed in a case that some legal experts initially thought would be a fiasco.

The key to the trial, said University of California law professor Susan Estrich, was the parade of witnesses 12 in all who testified that Skakel had incriminated himself in the 1975 murder of 15-year-old neighbor Martha Mox-ley in Greenwich, Conn. "For all bur fascination with forensics, for all the absolutes of science, confessions count, witnesses count," Estrich said. "In many respects, the time lag made it an old-fashioned trial, a question of who not what do you believe." Compared to their counterparts in the O.J. Simpson trial, the Skakel prosecutors started with a seemingly weak arsenal of evidence, said Todd D. Fernow, professor at the University of Connecticut School of Law.

But even during the prolonged pretrial proceedings, the prosecution incrementally gathered new bits of information, Fernow said. "You look back, and now you have three times as much evidence, and it gives you the illusion of substance." Fernow also suggested that jurors may have gone out of their way to resolve the long-simmering case, not wishing to end with a hung jury. "The jurors are thinking, The state of Connecticut wouldn't have brought the charges 27 years later if they didn't think they have the right guy. Well give them the benefit of the Fernow said. Steven Duke, a "professor of criminal law at Yale Law School, was among the experts who initially thought the prosecution of Skakel would flounder.

"It looked like an embarrassment," Duke said. "I was quoted as saying they must have more than these incriminating statements, and it turned out they didn't" How did the prosecution win? Duke suggested that Skakel's alibi evidence provided by rela were so many inconsistencies that the prosecution was able to bring forward," Cohen said. "On the other hand, memories fade." Cohen said prosecutors successfully depicted the murder Moxley was bludgeoned and stabbed with a golf club as particularly violent "Then they succeeded in presenting Skakel as someone over the years who was quite troubled," he said. "The jury put two and two together." During the deliberations, jurors asked to rehear some of prosecutor Jonathan Benedict's closing arguments a likely indication his comments were effective. The judge rejected their request.

The argument may have sounded powerful, but I had a very tives may have seemed shaky to the jurors. Duke also expressed surprise that the defense did not do more to challenge the testimony about Skakel's setf-mcriminat-ing remarks. "The defense had explanations for many of them; it didn't have explanations for all of them," Duke said. "I was surprised they didn't call an expert to say there are many instances in which people have become falsely convinced that they committed a crime." James Cohen, a Fordham University law professor who specializes in criminal defense, said the lapse of 27 years was both a plus and minus for the prosecution. "Over that period of time, so much happened, Skakel made so many different statements, there Skakel guilty of killing Moxley Skakel trial chronology former Los Angeles police Detective Mark Fuhrman and Greenwich native Tim Dumas, prosecutors announce that a one-judge grand jury has been appointed to investigate the slaying.

Aug. 4: Former Skakel family tutor Kenneth Littleton is compelled to testify before grand jury. Littleton, an early suspect, is given immunity from prosecution, except for perjury. Dec. 7, 1999: Grand jury investigation ends.

Jan. IS, 2000: Arrest warrant issued. Skakel surrenders the next day and is charged with murder. He is charged as a juvenile because of his age 15 at the time of the murder. March 14: Skakel ar- raigned.

He approaches the victim's mother 7 lZZ L.Jt' in coun ana tens ner: HWr wrf guv." jdii. ox. 4.wii uase transferred to adult court. Anril 10' Crulnm ill iTTL Coleman, who attend- View of the former home of Martha Moxley in ed a substance abuse, the Belle Haven section of Greenwich, Conn. MOXLEY, from 6A not over." Martha's mother, Dorthy, wept and hugged prosecutor Jonathan Benedict "Isn't it wonderful?" she asked.

"I just feel so blessed and so overwhelmed," she said. This is Martha's day. This is truly Martha's day." Her son, John Moxley, found less solace. "This is a hollow victory," he said. "Victory does not bring Martha back." Skakel is the nephew of Robert F.

Kennedy's widow, Ethel, and once boasted that his connections to the Kennedys would allow him to dance free from prosecutors. Quite the opposite appears to have happened his family connections and notoriety kept the case alive, as authors and journalists returned to it again and again. "The terrible tragedy of Martha Moxley's death has now been compounded by the conviction of an innocent man," Skakel's cousin, Robert Kennedy said yesterday. "I absolutely know Michael Skakel is innocent" The trial offered a glimpse into a lush world of country clubs, nannies and yachts, where crime is rare, children are precocious and neighbors discreet. The median price of a house in Greenwich is more than $900,000.

The Skakels lived near the Moxleys in the gated community of Belle Haven. The Moxleys last saw Martha when she bounced out the door of her house, her blonde mane setting off a blue parka, on Oct. 30, 1975. It was the night before Halloween, Mischief Night in Greenwich, when children roam the estates, flitting in and out of shadows, stuffing toilet paper in mailboxes and soaping windows. Police found her body the next morning, along with the pieces of the golf club.

The club had come from the Skakel estate. Witnesses, not least his brothers, said that Michael Skakel had spent most of the night watching television and smoking marijuana elsewhere in Greenwich. Police nonetheless suspected Michael Skakel, who had a crush on Moxley, and his brother Tommy, who was dating Moxley and was the last person seen with her. Some suspected the boys' live-in tutor, Kenneth Littleton, who in 1976 failed a polygraph. Littleton was later convicted of burglary and larceny in Nantucket and suffers from depression.

He wound up testifying for the prosecution. The boys' father, Rushton Skakel, was a prominent industrialist Many police officers in town labored for the family in their off-hours, as security guards and chauffeurs. And the father opened his door to the local constabulary during the investigation, serving them food and answering their questions. But as their questioning persisted and grew more pointed, the Skakels' door gradually closed. In the early 1990s, the father hired a private investigative firm, Sutton Associates, to clear his sons' names.

Instead, the firm placed Tommy with Moxley that night engaged in sexual petting. When Newsday reporter Len Levitt obtained these private reports, the case took a dark turn for the brothers. Three authors produced books on the case, raising still more questions about their alibis. In June 1998, prosecutors announced that a one-judge grand jury had been appointed to examine the slaying again. Then Gregory Coleman, a former classmate of Michael Skakel's at a drug rehab center, stepped forward and testified that Skakel once told him: "I'm going to get away with murder, because I'm a Kennedy." Coleman later acknowledged that he was high on heroin when he testified, and has since died of a heroin overdose.

But the judge permitted prosecutors to read Coleman's pretrial testimony into the record. Michael Skakel did not testify, but prosecutors produced the tape of an interview he gave to a ghostwriter in 1997. On the tape, Skakel said he walked over to the Moxley estate late on Mischief Night 27 years ago, thinking: "Martha likes me. IU go get a kiss from Martha. Robert A.

SaboThe Journal News David Skakel talks to the media yesterday after the guilty verdict for his brother, Michael, in Nor-walk, Conn. IU be bold tonight" Skakel said in the interview that he went to the Moxley home, threw rocks at Martha's window to try to get her attention, then masturbated in a tree and ran home. This account contradicted one Skakel gave years earlier, when he told police investigators he was miles from the scene of the crime. Though the case remained circumstantial, dependent on the testimony of the dead and the mentally unbalanced, prosecutor Benedict was credited with tying each thread together in a masterful summation. Several jurors responded to reporters' questions on their deliberations.

"We worked very, very hard to find something that would acquit Michael Skakel," juror Cathy Lazansky said. "We just couldn't" One of the alternates, Anne Lay-ton, said prosecutor Jonathan Benedict's closing argument was powerfully persuasive. "He really connected the dots and I think he did an incredible job," Layton said. The Associated Press and Staff Write Roger Witherspoon contributed to this report. ormer Moxley vsraenct i.

3 a treatment center with Skakel in the 1970s, admits being high on heroin when he testified before the grand jury but stands by his testimony that Skakel said he would get away with murder because "I'm a Kennedy." Aug. 7: Coleman found dead after using drugs. Feb. 21, 2002: Trial moved from Stamford to Norwalk. May 7: Testimony begins.

Yesterday: Skakel convicted of killing Moxley. He faces a sentence of 10 years to life in prison. Photos by The Associated Press preferred to "completely black out whatever is going on behind me." Benedict has tried other high-profile cases, including the murder trials of Adrian and Russell Peeler. The Bridgeport brothers were accused of gunning down a woman and her 8-year-old son. The boy was expected to testify against Russell Peeler in an earlier murder.

Adrian Peeler was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder, while Russell was convicted of plotting the murders. Michael Sherman: Michael Skakel's defense attorney loves the spotlight He's a fixture on television, including Court TV. Sherman, who grew up in Greenwich, gained fame in 1991 when he successfully defended a Vietnam veteran against a manslaughter charge by claiming the man suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. During jury selection, Sherman made several unorthodox moves, accepting as members of the panel a police officer who was once assaulted by one of Sherman's clients, a nurse whose daughter is a prosecutor in Westchester County and a woman whose friend's fattier was murdered. Judge John F.

Kavanewsky Norwalk Superior Judge John F. Kavanewsky 49, began his law career at a firm in Norwalk in 1978. In 1981, he was an assistant prosecutor for the city of San Diego. He then served in private practice in Norwalk until he was appointed to Superior Court in 1994. Kavanewsky presided over what had been expected to be a media circus but kept the trial orderly.

in town say Robert A. SaboThe Journal News Allan Wilson, a longtime resident of Greenwich, said the Moxley murder had been covered up for years. common thought "Greenwich wanted to see justice done," he said, "and it was." Reach Diana Bellettieri at dbellettthejournalnews.com or 914-694-5(6. 1 mi Moxley Skakel Oct. 30, 197S: Martha Moxley, 15, Is beaten to death with a golf club, later traced to a set owned by Michael Skakel's late mother.

Moxley's batfered body Is found Oct. 31 under a tree on her family's Greenwich, estate next door to the Skakel home. Dominick Dunne, left, with Mark Fuhrman. June 17, 1998: After renewed attention from books about the case by crime writer Dominick Dunne, Key figures Martha Moxley: She was the new kid in town, an attractive teen from California with long blond hair. She was quickly voted best personality at Western Junior High School in Greenwich.

"She was the kind of person who walked into the room and the lights went on by themselves," said John Moxley, Martha's older brother. Martha was athletic, friendly, artistic and smart, John Moxley said. Her mother, Dorthy Moxley, recalled a cheerful girl who played tennis, drew pictures and listened to Elton John. "One of her teachers wrote on her report card that when Martha walked in, it was like the sun coming up in the morning," Moxley once said. Her battered body was found Oct 31, 1975, under a large tree on her property.

Michael Skakel: The Kennedy cousin, 41, grew up in Belle Haven, a gated shoreline community in Greenwich. His aunt Ethel Skakel Kennedy, is the widow of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy. The Skakel money came from Great Lakes Carbon, a processor of industrial coke and other minerals.

But the family fell apart when Skakel's mother, Anne, died of cancer in 1973. In 1978, after leading police on a high-speed chase in Windham, N.Y., Skakel was sent to the Elan School in Poland Spring, Maine, a private school for teens with drug and alcohol problems. After a decade drifting in and out of rehabilitation centers, Skakel graduated from Curry College in Mit ton, in 1993 with a bachelor's degree in English. He quit drinking. He worked as an aide on Sen.

Edward Kennedy's 1994 reelection campaign before joining THE REACTION Justice was Diana BeDettieri The Journal New9 GREENWICH, Conn. Residents of this community said yesterday that justice had been served with the conviction of Michael C. Skakel for a murder that shook the town 27 years ago. In October 1975, Martha Moxley was beated to death at age 15 with a golf club in her affluent Greenwich neighborhood. The murder shocked the community, because Greenwich had been a quiet town, known for being safe.

Peter Alexander, 54, said he grew up only 100 yards from the Moxley family. "People couldn't relate to the murder at first because Greenwich was so safe," he said yesterday as word of the verdict spread down Greenwich Avenue. "We all felt violated by the murder." Rob Mackenzie, 25, has lived in Greenwich all his life. Although he was not alive when the murder Siii ftiai v' 1. V-- I III ur jW' Haven, island Sound Yvonne LinTne journal News his cousin, Michael Kennedy, in 1995 at Citizens Energy a Boston nonprofit In 1996, he went to Cuba with cousins Michael and Robert Kennedy to meet Fidel Castro.

He got married and moved to Cohasset where his wife, Margot worked as a golf pro. In 1997, Skakel was identified as the main contact with prosecutors investigating Michael Kennedy's alleged extramarital affair with his children's underage baby sitter. Skakel, who now lives in Windham, reached a divorce settlement with his wife last year in which the couple share custody of their 3-year-old son. Jonathan Benedict: Jonathan Benedict a 55-year-old Vietnam veteran who grew up in Fairfield, has been a prosecutor since 1976. He was promoted to Bridgeport state's attorney in 1997.

Benedict seldom commented to the media during the Skakel trial, saying he done, some occurred, he said he would like to see Skakel be sentenced to life in prison. "I have no toleration for this. I don't like seeing lenience, especially after being avoided for all these years," he said. The Moxley family can finally be at peace," said Erin Schmaling, 24, a teacher from Greenwich. Skakel is the nephew of Ethel Kennedy, the widow of the late U.S.

Sen. Robert Kennedy. Skakel's conviction came as a surprise to many people as they strolled along the sidewalk yesterday. "Everyone thought Skakel would get off," said Iris Rosenberg, 70, as she walked her dog, Dolce. "But I always felt that I don't care who you are, you should pay for what you do." Allan Wilson, 59, a retired resident said the murder had been covered up for years.

"Someone in that Skakel house knew about what had happened," he said. Alexander expressed another Immediate Installation Available Service Liners.