Robert F. Kennedy Jr. testifies as cousin Skakel seeks new trial

STAMFORD, Conn. -- Robert F. Kennedy Jr. took center stage Tuesday as his convicted cousin sought a new trial for a 1975 murder, describing how he did his own sleuthing when he learned of an account implicating two other men.

Michael Skakel is serving 20 years to life in prison after he was convicted of fatally beating neighbor Martha Moxley with a golf club when they were both 15. His hair is gray and he appeared thinner Tuesday than at his 2002 trial.

Kennedy testified that although he and Skakel have not always been close, he felt obligated to get involved in the case because he believes Skakel is innocent. When pressed, Kennedy acknowledged he couldn't find others who saw the men in the neighborhood that fateful night.

After the hearing, Kennedy's mother, Ethel Kennedy, also offered her support for her nephew.

"I hope justice will be done and Michael will be released soonest," Ethel Kennedy said. "I love him. I feel heartbroken for the Moxley family."

Robert Kennedy put Skakel's attorneys in touch with Gitano "Tony" Bryant, a former classmate of Skakel's who implicated Adolph Hasbrouck and Burt Tinsley in the crime. Bryant said he was with the two men in Moxley's Greenwich neighborhood the night she was killed, but left before his friends.

According to court papers, Bryant said one friend had met Moxley and "wanted to go caveman on her," and that the two later told him: "We did what we had to do" and "We got her caveman style."

"They need to interview and focus on this guy Adolph because he said some very, very, very, very damaging statements that, I mean, just blew me away," Bryant told Kennedy, according to a transcript.

Hasbrouck's wife has called the claim a lie, while Tinsley has not returned telephone calls.

Kennedy described Bryant as a cousin of basketball star Kobe Bryant, but Bryant's agent has refused to verify the relationship.

After talking to Bryant, Kennedy tape recorded phone conversations with Hasbrouck and Tinsley that were played in court Tuesday.

"Were you guys up there on that night, on that night before Halloween?" Kennedy asked Hasbrouck.

"That night we weren't up there, unfortunately, we weren't around at that time," Hasbrouck replied, according to a transcript of the conversation, in which Hasbrouck sounded relaxed and laughed with Kennedy about what they were like as teenagers.

But Kennedy said that Hasbrouck and Tinsley said in subsequent conversations that they had been in the neighborhood that night.

Tinsley told Kennedy that he had been to Greenwich about six times, but was vague on the dates. He described Greenwich as a rich playground where he marveled at a mansion where he visited a friend.

Under cross-examination, prosecutor Jonathan Benedict questioned Bryant's credibility and pressed Kennedy about whether others corroborated Bryant's claim of being in Greenwich with Hasbrouck and Tinsley the night Moxley was killed. Benedict said Bryant named many teens from the neighborhood he saw, including Skakel.

Benedict asked whether Kennedy talked with the people, as many as 15, who were gathered behind the Skakel house. He referred to the likelihood that Bryant and Hasbrouck, two black men, would have stood out had they been in the mostly white neighborhood where Moxley lived.

Kennedy said, "No I have not, I have not done a thorough investigation."

To win a new trial, Skakel's attorneys must show that Bryant's account is evidence not available at the time of his trial and that it likely would have changed the verdict.

Bryant made the claim in a 2003 videotaped interview with Skakel's private investigator, but Bryant and the other two men have invoked their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

Skakel attorney Hubert Santos said jurors should hear Bryant's claim, which "shattered what had been a closed case."

"It's our position that if one of the 12 jurors had a reasonable doubt, then we have a different result than we had in 2002," Santos said.

Moxley's mother, Dorthy Moxley, has said that she still believes Skakel is guilty.

The non-jury hearing before Superior Court Judge Edward R. Karazin Jr. could last as long as two weeks.

In November, the U.S. Supreme Court decided not to take up Skakel's appeal, which claimed a statute of limitations had expired before he was charged.