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Michael Skakel Will Be Tried for Murder

Aired April 20, 2001 - 11:55   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We want to get out to Deborah Feyerick who has news on the Michael Skakel case.

Deborah, you take it from here.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Daryn, a judge in the Michael Skakel has determined that there is enough evidence to take this to trial. That means that Michael Skakel is going ahead, there will be a trial. The judge said that in considering all of the evidence, he said that the admissions included motive and account of surrounding circumstances, enough to put Michael at the scene of the crime when this occurred back in 1975.

Now, Skakel's lawyer wasted time. He had witnesses standing by. He's still going to try to convince the judge not to take this to trial, but the judge was very definitive in deciding why this should be tried. Now, the evidence that the judge considered included a golf club matching the murder weapon. That golf club was found in the Skakel home, and he put a lot of weight on that; more weight on that than the fact testimony was given that said no blood, no fingerprints and no DNA was found on the murder weapon itself.

He said by the very nature the golf club was found in the Skakel home, that pointed to somebody at least in the Skakel home as having been part of this. Also, the witness testimony. John Higgins took the stand yesterday. He said late one night, Michael Skakel broke down sobbing, saying that he said, I may have done it, I could have done, I did it. The judge considered that evidence, that testimony very carefully in making his decision and he also said that even though a second man, a man by the name of Gregory Coleman, also testified that Skakel said he did it, that was enough for him that this should go to trial.

So, that's where we stand right now. Michael Skakel disappointed in the outcome of this. He was shaking his head, but his lawyer really said that he had anticipated all of this, and that's why he had these witnesses standing by. The judge in this particular case, very considered, very measured in his decision. He is chief of the criminal matters here in Stamford, Connecticut and he can either choose to hear the case himself or appoint it to another judge.

And keep in mind, Daryn that probable cause, it requires more evidence than just mere suspicion, but not enough evidence necessarily to convict. And so that was the threshold of evidence that the judge used to say, we're going to trial -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Deborah Feyerick with the latest. Michael Skakel will be tried as an adult for the 1975 murder of Martha Moxley.

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