The evidence in the case came from:

• an unreliable, dead drug addict who waited 20 years before coming forward with a story about Michael Skakel having told him he could get away with murder because he was a Kennedy. When he did come forward, he went to the media, not the police.

At a pre-trial hearing, he acknowledged he was high on heroin at the time of his grand jury testimony and that his memory wasn't trustworthy. By the time trial came around, he had died of a drug overdose so he wasn't able to be cross-examined. But the Court allowed his earlier testimony to be read to the jury.

I happened to be attending the trial that day. Lawyers role-played the parts of questioner and witness as the transcript of the dead drug addict's testimony rolled on the giant overhead screen like it was a movie.

• A former suspect (the Skakel kids' tutor) who had been granted immunity

• Other similarly unreliable witnesses whose testimony of purported confessions was disputed by other witnesses

The prosecution harped on Michael's changed story years after the murder, but Michael's brother Tommy who had been the suspect for years, also changed his story years later in his discussions with Skakel-family private investigators to say that the night Martha was killed he (Tommy) and Martha had been mutually masturbating on the ground under the tree her body was found ...See Newsday reporter Len Leavitt's many articles on this.

There was overwhelming pre-trial publicity in Connecticut largely resulting from the recent publication of books by celebrity novelist Dominick Dunne, himself the father of a slain daughter, and former O.J. cop Mark Fuhrman, proclaiming Skakel to be the murderer.

Skakel should never have been tried in adult court --the law in effect in 1975 precluded it--and his trial and conviction were contrary to the five year statute of limitations in effect at that time.

Skakel was a troubled kid. He had an alibi. The prosecution never proved the time of death. They didn't even try, instead opting for a range of between 9:30 pm and the middle of the night.

Expert defense testimony, coming from experts originally hired by the prosecution, established the time of death around 9:30 pm--when Michael was at his cousin's house. Witness testimony was presented about unusually excessive and prolonged dog barking occurring at this time. Defense witnesses testified to Michael's alibi. Michael's taped statement in which he denied committing the murder was played to the jury.

Yet, despite the paltry lack of credible evidence and the lack of any physical, forensic or DNA evidence linking Michael to the murder, the jury convicted.

Bottom line: I have always thought the jury did not decide the case based on the evidence presented and refuted, but on their sympathy for Dorothy Moxley and their dislike for the well-known Skakel/Kennedy families.

[My chronology of news articles on the case from 2002 is here; 2001 is here. TalkLeft coverage is here.]