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Skakel sister's testimony challenges alibi

Skakel, left, arrives for court Wednesday with his attorney, Mickey Sherman.

NORWALK, Connecticut (CNN) -- The sister of Michael Skakel said Wednesday she thought she saw her brother at home at the time he claims he was miles away with his cousin -- the time defense attorneys contend neighbor Martha Moxley was murdered,

But Julie Skakel, testifying as a prosecution rebuttal witness, said that although she remembered calling out, "Michael," she didn't get a good enough look at the figure she saw running past the family's driveway to be able to identify who it was.

Moxley was beaten to death with a golf club outside her home on October 30, 1975. She and Michael Skakel were both 15 at the time of the killing. Skakel, now 41, is charged with murder in the case. He is the nephew of Ethel Kennedy, widow of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy.

Testimony revealed Julie Skakel told police in 1975 and a grand jury in 1998 that she said, "Michael, come back here," when the figure darted out past her car as she waited in the driveway to take a friend home.

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Michael's presence at that time would indicate that he did not leave for his cousin's house.

This would contradict earlier testimony from Skakel's brothers and cousin James Dowdle that he drove with them in the family's Lincoln to Dowdle's house just after 9:30 p.m. and stayed till about 11 p.m.

The defense has built its case around the premise that the murder took place around 10 p.m., the time several neighborhood dogs began barking furiously.

Defense attorney Mickey Sherman contends Michael Skakel was at Dowdle's house during that time.

From the beginning of the trial, however, State's Attorney Jonathan Benedict has claimed the murder could have occurred anytime within a window of 9:30 p.m. on October 30 to 5 a.m. on October 31.

Although she testified Wednesday that she did not recall whether the Lincoln or any other cars were still parked at her house before she left, Julie Skakel told the grand jury in 1998 that "as far as I can recall, I was the only car in the driveway."

During cross-examination by Sherman, Julie Skakel said she thought Michael might have been the running figure because it was "Mischief Night" -- the night before Halloween, when her brother and other neighborhood children liked to engage in pranks.