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Skakel relatives recall little of fatal night

Skakel

NORWALK, Connecticut (CNN) -- Two relatives of Michael Skakel testified Wednesday they remembered that he went to a cousin's house the night of Martha Moxley's murder, but they had trouble recalling much of anything else about that night.

As he kicked off the case for the defense, Skakel attorney Mickey Sherman said he intended to call Michael Kennedy's ex-babysitter, Marisa Verrochi, as his first witness Thursday.

Verrochi is expected to deny a previous witness's claim that Skakel talked about the murder at a 1997 party.

James Dowdle, Skakel's cousin and the first defense witness to testify Wednesday, said Skakel had gone back to his house about 9:30 p.m. that day along with brothers John and Rushton Skakel Jr.

Dowdle said they watched a Monty Python television program, then Michael and his brothers went home just before 11 p.m.

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The timing of Skakel's trip to his cousin's house may be critical if the jury believes the defense argument that the murder took place about 10 p.m., the time several neighborhood dogs began barking fiercely.

Skakel, now 41, is charged with bludgeoning Moxley to death with a golf club on October 30, 1975, when they were both 15. The club was traced to a set owned by the Skakel family. Skakel is the nephew of Ethel Kennedy, the widow of Sen. Robert Kennedy.

Several prosecution witnesses have described his strong attraction to Moxley -- a claim augmented by an audiotaped interview with the defendant himself. The witnesses said Moxley had spurned Skakel's advances, which prosecutors claim provided the motive for the crime.

Dowdle said he remembered watching television at his house with Michael, John and Rushton, but he could not remember whom he had dinner with that night, whether he saw Michael Skakel with Martha Moxley, or even if he gave a signed or taped statement to Greenwich police the Sunday after the crime.

'Don't recall'

After Dowdle testified, Rushton Skakel took the stand. He said he took his brothers to the Dowdle residence to watch the Monty Python show around 9:30 p.m. He remembered coming back home just after 11 p.m., he said.

But on cross-examination, Rushton Skakel said he remembered little else about the night of the murder.

State's Attorney Jonathan Benedict peppered him with questions -- whom he had dinner with, whether he or Michael had been drinking, or if he had ever been interviewed by the Greenwich police about the murder.

"I don't recall," he repeatedly said.

David Skakel, who was 11 at the time of the murder, said he remembered hearing a neighbor's dog barking incessantly around 10 p.m. On cross-examination, he said he remembered few other details about that night and had no recollection of seeing his brother.