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Prosecution witness knocks down Skakel alibi

Skakel stands outside court in Norwalk, Connecticut during a morning recess Thursday.

NORWALK, Connecticut (CNN) -- A key prosecution witness challenged Michael Skakel's alibi for the night his childhood neighbor was killed, telling the court Thursday that she is positive the Kennedy cousin was not in a car with his two brothers when Martha Moxley was bludgeoned to death.

Skakel's attorney Mickey Sherman has built his defense around the claim that her violent death occurred between 9:30 and 10 p.m. -- exactly the time Skakel's cousin, James Terrien, can provide him with an alibi.

But the witness, Andrea Renna, said she was positive she saw Michael inside the Skakel house shortly after his brothers left to drive Terrien home.

Renna said she was stunned to read in Mark Fuhrman's 1998 book, "Murder in Greenwich: Who Killed Martha Moxley?" that members of the Skakel family said Michael had gone to the Terrien house that night.

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"It was counter to what I knew was the case," said Renna, who was a friend of Skakel's sister, Julie. The two girls were having tea in the Skakels' kitchen at the time Moxley, then 15, was killed.

Sherman challenged Renna's memory about that night, citing a 1991 report in which she told a detective that she thought Michael had been home but wasn't exactly sure. When Sherman asked why Renna didn't come forward to report the discrepancies, Renna said she had read them in the book and that such accounts are often inaccurate.

A Moxley friend testified Thursday she could not remember whether Skakel, then 15, was in the car, but said she would never forget hearing her dogs standing frozen in the road, barking violently toward the Moxley house around the time of the death.

The testimony came in the third day of the high-profile trial in which Michael Skakel, the nephew of Ethel Kennedy, is being tried for Moxley's murder. If convicted, he could be given a sentence of 10 years to life in prison.

Moxley's body was found the night of October 31, 1975 on the front lawn of her family's home, diagonally across the street from the Skakel house. Pieces of a golf club, including the head, were found nearby, but the part of the handle that would tie the club to a set owned by the Skakels has never been found.

Also taking the stand Thursday was Ken Littleton, a former tutor who had just moved into the Skakel household on the day of the killing. He described how, the next day, swarms of family lawyers and representatives were at the Skakel home in Greenwich, Connecticut and arrangements were made to send some of the Skakel children out of town.

Skakel's father, Rushton, came back ahead of schedule from a hunting trip and told Littleton to take Michael, his brothers, Tommy and John, and cousin James Terrien to the family's winter home in Windham, New York.

Sherman is expected to challenge that story, pointing out that Littleton himself was long considered a suspect. Littleton, who has been granted full immunity by prosecutors, is alleged to have confessed to Moxley's death by saying to his wife during a possible alcohol-induced blackout that he might have done it.

But if the killing had taken place between 9:30 and 10 p.m., Littleton's testimony seemed to clear Tommy -- once a prime suspect. After Littleton arrived for the first day on the job, he took the children to dinner and came home, unpacked, and began watching "The French Connection" on television at 9 p.m.

At one point, the family nanny asked Littleton to check on some noises she was hearing outside. Littleton said he stepped outside the house, heard some "scuffling in the leaves and the grass," but saw nothing -- then came inside.

"It sort of spooked me, to be honest with you," he told the jury.

At about 10 p.m., Tommy Skakel came upstairs, looking "perfectly composed, not agitated." Tommy watched about 15 minutes of the film's chase scene, then went out.

Connecticut's chief medical examiner, H. Wayne Carver, testified Wednesday Moxley's death was caused by multiple skull wounds made by a golf club. He said there were at least eight and possibly nine blunt blows to the victim's head that led to her death.

Friday, the court will suspend testimony to hold hearings on the admissibility of evidence the defense says proves Littleton confessed to the murder. Sherman wants the jury to watch a videotape of Littleton's interview with a police-hired psychologist and see transcripts of wiretaps with his ex-wife in which he discusses whether he may have killed Moxley.

Prosecutors say the tapes and transcripts are taken out of context and do not amount to any confession.