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Skakel brother original suspect in killing

Defense attorney Michael Sherman, left, confers with his client Michael Skakel in the courtroom Wednesday.

NORWALK, Connecticut (CNN) -- Greenwich police in 1976 thought they had enough evidence to make an arrest in the slaying of Martha Moxley -- not of Michael Skakel, who is now on trial for murder in the case, but of his brother Tommy, a former police chief testified Wednesday.

Thomas Keegan said the department had prepared an arrest warrant application for Tommy Skakel, but the state's attorney at the time declined to sign it, saying there was not enough evidence.

Since that time, another investigator and the state's attorney had developed information that led in the direction of Michael Skakel, he told reporters after his testimony.

"Based upon the information that we had at the time, certainly Tommy Skakel was a hot suspect," Keegan said.

Defense attorneys said they were not happy they had not been given a copy of the arrest warrant application in the pre-trial documents.

CNN NewsPass VIDEO A forensic pathologist testified at the trial of Michael Skakel that Martha Moxley may have fended off a sexual attack the night she was killed. CNN's Deborah Feyerick reports (May 9) Play video     LEGAL RESOURCES Latest Legal News Law Library FindLaw Consumer Center Select a topic Bankruptcy Discrimination Divorce Estate Planning Landlord-Tenant Personal Injury Taxes

They want to show that police soon after the slaying were looking at a number of suspects -- none of them being Michael Skakel.

Michael is now charged with murder and if convicted could be sentenced to 10 years to life in prison.

Prosecutors said they were searching for the warrant application among old records in the case but had not been able to find it. Even so, the state did nothing wrong in not turning it over to the defense, said Superior Court Judge John Kavanewsky.

Assistant State's Attorney Susan Gill said all the information contained within the warrant application had already been provided to the defense.

Kavanewsky chided defense attorney Michael Sherman for waiting until Keegan was already testifying before even mentioning the warrant application.

"I don't know that the defense has really used due diligence" by not asking for the document beforehand, he said.

The revelations about Tommy Skakel came in court when Sherman asked Keegan whether he was trying to establish leads to Tommy three months after the slaying.

At the time, investigators sought access to the psychological records of Tommy Skakel. At first, Skakel's father, Rushton, agreed to the request.

Shortly thereafter, however, Skakel family attorney Emmanuel Margolis withdrew permission for access to the records and effectively stopped the flow of information to the police.

Also in court Wednesday, a graphic crime scene photo showing the bloodied victim was entered into evidence, as were Moxley's shoes. On the side of one shoe was written the name "Tom."

Forensic pathologist Dr. Henry Lee testified Moxley appeared to have struggled with her killer in the moments before her death, possibly fending off a sexual attack.

Her jeans and underpants were pulled down before she was hit with the golf club, a finding he based on blood stains on the clothes, Lee said.

"This was a sexually related homicide," he said, "but there was no penetration."

Nor was semen found, although Lee said it was possible it was wiped away as Moxley was dragged some 80 feet to the tree where she was discovered.

Prosecutors said they planned to put this evidence together with Michael Skakel's earlier statements that he went looking for Moxley that night because he wanted to kiss her.

Connecticut's chief medical examiner, H. Wayne Carver, testified Moxley's death was caused by multiple skull wounds made by a golf club.

Carver, who reviewed the autopsy report of Elliot Gross, the medical examiner at the time of the killing, said there were at least eight and possibly nine blows to the victim's head that led to her death.