Skakel Attorneys Seek Man's Testimony

In a bid to win a new trial, attorneys for Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel submitted a three-year-old videotaped interview Wednesday of a man who implicated two friends in a 1975 murder that sent Skakel to prison.

The move was aimed at compelling one of the friends to testify after he invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

"It's very powerful evidence that Michael Skakel was not involved in the homicide," said Hubert Santos, Skakel's attorney. "At a minimum, the jury should have been permitted to have this information if it were available."

Skakel, a nephew of Ethel Kennedy, is serving 20 years to life in prison for his conviction in the bludgeoning death of neighbor Martha Moxley in 1975, when the two were teenagers.

He is seeking a new trial based on a claim by Gitano "Tony" Bryant in 2003 that two of Bryant's friends may have killed Moxley.

"I think they were definitely involved," Bryant said during the interview, speaking calmly though he said at one point he was nervous. "There is no doubt in my mind that they were involved."

Bryant and the two men he implicated, Adolph Hasbrouck and Burt Tinsley, have all asserted their Fifth Amendment rights.

Skakel's attorneys filed a motion Wednesday opposing Hasbrouck's efforts to avoid testifying.

Lawrence Schoenbach, Hasbrouck's attorney, would not comment Wednesday except to say he was considering a libel or slander lawsuit against Bryant. Hasbrouck's wife has called the claim a lie. Tinsley has not returned telephone calls seeking comment.

According to Skakel's attorneys, Bryant said he was with two friends from New York in Skakel and Moxley's neighborhood the night she was killed. According to court papers, Bryant said one friend had met Moxley and "wanted to go caveman on her," and that after he left them that night, they later told him, "We did what we had to do."

Bryant said he gave the statement reluctantly after a classmate had told Skakel's supporters about his account.

"As a teenager, I wanted to run away from this," Bryant said during the interview. "As an adult, I tried to block it out."

Bryant said he feared becoming a suspect but never expected Skakel to be convicted.

"He's not guilty of this," Bryant said.

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