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Skakel judge rejects jury request for prosecution's closing

Michael Skakel leaving court earlier this week.

NORWALK, Connecticut (CNN) -- The judge in the Michael Skakel murder trial Thursday turned down a request by jurors to have the prosecutor's closing argument read back to them.

Judge John F. Kavanewsky Jr. agreed with the defense that jurors could not hear the closing argument again because it was considered argument, not direct evidence. Kavanewsky told them that they could consider it from memory.

Thursday marked the third day of deliberations in the trial. Jurors have made requests to rehear testimony from several witnesses, including Skakel neighbor Helen Ix, forensic scientist Henry Lee and Skakel friend Andrew Pugh.

The jurors indicated Thursday that they no longer needed to review the testimony of John Higgins, who attended a school for troubled youth where Michael Skakel allegedly confessed to the crime.

EXTRA INFORMATION Timeline: Michael Skakel trial    RESOURCES • Gallery: People in the News  • Court TV.com: Kennedy cousin on trial  • Read Martha Moxley's diary

Skakel, whose aunt is Ethel Skakel Kennedy, widow of the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, is charged with murdering neighbor Martha Moxley in 1975, when both were 15.

Moxley was beaten to death with a golf club outside her Greenwich home on the night before Halloween, October 30, 1975. The golf club matched a set owned by the Skakels, although its monogrammed handle has never been found.

If convicted, Skakel, 41, could be sentenced to 10 years to life in prison.

On Wednesday, jurors listened to the testimony of Michael Skakel's sister Julie in which she said she thought she saw her brother at home at the time he said he was miles away with his cousin -- the time defense attorneys contend Moxley was killed.

Jurors also asked to hear the testimony again of Andrea Shakespeare Renna, a childhood friend of Julie's who was with her in the Skakel home the night of the slaying, and Helen Ix, a close friend of Moxley's who was with her that night.

They also wanted to hear the testimony of Andrew Pugh, a childhood friend of Michael Skakel's, and Dr. Henry Lee, a forensic scientist.