dictionary

Skakel brother can't remember key murder night detail

Testimony in 1975 case likely to wrap up this week

Michael Skakel

NORWALK, Connecticut (CNN) -- The brother of Michael Skakel said Tuesday he could not remember whether Michael was part of a group at his cousin's house miles away from home in 1975 when Martha Moxley may have been murdered.

John Skakel was one of the last witnesses for the defense, which rested Tuesday afternoon.

But in a departure from previous testimony by Skakel's relatives, he said he could not remember whether Michael was with him, brother Rush Jr., and the cousin, James Dowdle, when they went back to Dowdle's house around 9:30 p.m.

The timing is significant, because the defense claims that Moxley was beaten to death about 10 p.m., when several neighborhood dogs began barking fiercely. Dowdle and Rush Skakel Jr. have already testified that Michael came with them to the Dowdle home during that time.

But John Skakel could not nail down that detail. "I'd love nothing more than to have a clearer memory. That's just the way it is." He said his memory has been clouded by time and from "the cumulative effect of just being trashed continually for 26 years, as a family," in the press.

EXTRA INFORMATION Timeline: Michael Skakel trial    RESOURCES • Gallery: People in the News  • Court TV.com: Kennedy cousin on trial  • Read Martha Moxley's diary      LEGAL RESOURCES Latest Legal News Law Library FindLaw Consumer Center Select a topic Bankruptcy Discrimination Divorce Estate Planning Landlord-Tenant Personal Injury Taxes

The prosecution contends the time of death could be anywhere from 9:30 p.m. October 30 to 5 a.m. October 31.

Once defense testimony is concluded, the prosecution has the opportunity to call rebuttal witnesses. Both sides will then deliver their closing arguments. The judge will give instructions to the jury, which in turn will begin deliberations.

Moxley was found beaten to death with a golf club outside her home on October 31. Police traced the club to a set owned by the Skakels.

Michael Skakel, now 41, is charged with murder in the case. Both he and Moxley were 15 at the time of her death.

John Skakel said he had no "visual recollection" of who was in the car going from the Skakel home to Dowdle's. However, he did remember watching the Monty Python television show at Dowdle's house.

Defense attorney Mickey Sherman asked John Skakel if anyone in his family had told him what to say before he was interviewed by Greenwich police on November 14, 1975. "Did anyone prepare you to speak to the police?"

"Not that I recall, no," Skakel said.

Sherman has disputed prosecution claims that the Skakel family colluded to provide Michael Skakel with an alibi for the alleged time of death.

Another witness, retired Greenwich detective James Lunney, admitted that Michael's brother Tommy was among prime suspects back in 1976. But the prosecution successfully prevented Sherman from asking Lunney whether he believed then that the time of death was 10 p.m.

The defense is expected to rest its case Tuesday, after hearing testimony from former Houston medical examiner Dr. John Jachimzyk, who told Greenwich police in early 1976 that he believed the time of death was 10 p.m.

State's Attorney Jonathan Benedict is expected to call as a rebuttal witness Julie Skakel, Michael Skakel's older sister. Julie told police in 1975, and confirmed to some extent in her grand jury testimony in 1998, that she had seen a figure run by her car on the night of the murder after her brothers had left for the Dowdle home.

In her previous statements, Julie said she yelled out "Michael, stop that," according to a source close to the case.