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Twelve jurors picked for Skakel trial

NORWALK, Connecticut (Court TV) -- A 12th juror was selected Thursday to hear evidence against Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel, completing the roster of key players who will re-assemble May 7 for one of the most anticipated murder trials since O.J. Simpson's in 1995.

On the 11th day of jury selection, prosecutors and defense lawyers agreed that a registered nurse from Greenwich would be fair and impartial as she listened to testimony about the 1975 murder of 15-year-old Martha Moxley of Greenwich.

"I have no opinions as far as guilt or innocence," said the woman, whose daughter is a prosecutor in Westchester County, New York.

Finding 12 residents of the affluent southwestern Connecticut county of Fairfield who had not heard of Skakel, Martha or the now-infamous Toney Penna six-iron golf club used to kill the teenager could have taken many months.

The lawyers did not even try.

Prosecutor Jonathan Benedict said he is confident that the jury selected will be able to listen to all the evidence and agree on a verdict. Defense lawyer Mickey Sherman agreed that both sides were after the same thing.

"We wanted 12 intelligent people with a lot of common sense. Boy, it looks like we got what we wanted," Sherman said. "It's an ideal jury."

The six-man, six-woman jury selected Thursday includes a Spanish teacher, police officer and a corporate lawyer, among others.

Although most of the jurors told the court that they had read or seen media accounts about the 26-year-old case, all promised that they could set aside what they knew and deliberate based only on evidence they would hear during the trial.

Testimony is expected to last five weeks, but Benedict told one prospective juror concerned about his daughter's late June wedding that he doubted it would go that long.

The prosecution's case is a circumstantial one and DNA evidence is expected to play little or no role. Benedict and co-counsel Christopher Morano and Susan Gill stressed during jury selection that circumstantial evidence is considered just as persuasive as direct evidence under the law.

There are no known eyewitnesses to the murder and even pinning down the precise time of the attack and Martha's death on Oct. 30, 1975, may not be possible, prosecutors noted.

Instead, the prosecution is relying on testimony of former residents of Elan, the Maine reform school Skakel attended following a March 1978 drunken driving incident in Upstate New York. Several witnesses -- including a deceased man who provided sworn testimony that jurors may hear -- have said that Skakel made incriminating statements during the late 1970s.

Andrew Pugh, a childhood friend who became reacquainted with Skakel at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting in the early 1990s, is expected to testify that Skakel gave him a much different account of his movements on the night of the murder than he gave police initially.

Skakel, according to Pugh, claimed he was in a tree above the crime scene masturbating on the night of the murder.

Finding 12 people who had not already concluded that Skakel, a nephew of Ethel Kennedy, committed the killing or was covering for someone else was no easy task for the defense.

Several of the more than 150 prospective jurors screened said they agreed with former O.J. Simpson detective Mark Fuhrman and famed celebrity writer Dominick Dunne that Skakel killed Martha -- probably in a jealous rage.

The 41-year-old defendant's older brother, Thomas Skakel of Massachusetts, was a rival for Martha's affections and was the prime suspect for 20 years before the focus shifted to Michael Skakel.

"I am just giving my opinion ... I do feel he is guilty," said an older woman who was rejected for the panel on a defense motion for cause.

Sherman said he was looking for jurors who would remain open-minded and let him attempt to persuade them that Skakel is innocent of the crime. Perhaps broadcasting his confidence in his abilities to do that, Sherman accepted a Darien, Connecticut, police officer for the jury early in the process.

Although the prosecution has "earwitness" evidence -- statements from those who say Skakel killed Martha -- Skakel's defense team has the benefit of the passage of more than a quarter of century, in which memories of the witnesses may have faded, and a dearth of physical evidence linking the defendant to the brutal slaying.

Judge John Kavanewsky has yet to rule on how deep the defense can delve into the subject of the police pursuit of early suspects, including Thomas Skakel and former Skakel family tutor Kenneth Littleton of Massachusetts. Both Thomas Skakel and Littleton are on the prosecution's witness list.

Michael Skakel also has a partial alibi. He was at a cousin's house on the other side of Greenwich for the early part of an eight-hour window during which the prosecution says Martha was attacked with the golf club and left for dead.

Dorthy Moxley, Martha's mother, told reporters Thursday that she was satisfied with the jurors selected. Moxley attended all but the first day of jury selection, taking copious notes and making sketches in a black, hardcover book.

"I think we have a wonderful jury and I'm very happy," Moxley said.

The lawyers are expected to select four alternate jurors in the coming days. If one or more of the regular jurors are unable to complete his or her duty during the trial, alternates will be selected by lottery.

Testimony will begin May 7.