Witnesses: Skakel admitted involvement in murder

STAMFORD, Conn. - A childhood friend of Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel testified Wednesday that Skakel admitted being at the scene where his teen-age neighbor was slain in 1975.

Andrew Pugh said Skakel told him years after the beating death of 15-year-old Martha Moxley that he had masturbated while up in a pine tree in Moxley's yard the night she was killed. It was the same pine tree under which Moxley's bludgeoned body was found the next morning, Pugh said.

Pugh's testimony came on the second day of a hearing to decide whether there is enough evidence to try Skakel in Moxley's killing and whether the case should be transferred to adult court. Skakel was 15 at the time of the killing.

Skakel, now 39, was arrested in January after a grand jury consisting of a single judge found there was enough evidence to charge Skakel in the long-dormant case.

Two former classmates testified Tuesday that Skakel had admitted being involved in Moxley's killing; one said Skakel confessed to beating her with a golf club and claimed he would get away with it because of his Kennedy connections. Skakel's aunt is Ethel Kennedy, the widow of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy.

Pugh said that when they were kids, he and Skakel frequently climbed an enormous pine tree on the Moxley property, which was located across the street from the Skakel family estate in Belle Haven, an exclusive gated community in Greenwich.

Pugh said he lost touch with Skakel after Moxley was murdered.

He said that Skakel tried to renew their friendship in the early 1990s, but that he told Skakel he was reluctant because he had some concerns about Skakel's possible involvement in Moxley's murder.

At that point, Pugh said, he asked Skakel if he had anything to do with Moxley's killing.

Pugh said Skakel told him that he had been in the pine tree masturbating the night Moxley was killed, ''but that he had nothing to do with her death.''

That account is similar to what Skakel told a private investigative firm hired by his family in the early 1990s. That was a change from the story he originally gave to police: that he was at his cousin's house at the time investigators believe Moxley was killed.

On cross-examination, Skakel's defense attorney, Michael Sherman, grilled Pugh on why he waited until 1998 to tell police about Skakel's story about being at the scene of the crime.

''At that time, there really was no evidence that Michael was involved,'' Pugh said. ''Perhaps I should have done that. Perhaps it was an error on my part.

Sherman also suggested repeatedly that Skakel never told Pugh that the pine tree they climbed as kids was the same tree Skakel told him he climbed the night of Moxley's killing.

Pugh acknowledged that he assumed Skakel was referring to the tree where Moxley's body was found, but that Skakel did not actually say it was the same tree.

Pugh said Skakel had ''an attraction, an infatuation'' with Moxley. ''He had interest in Martha as a girlfriend,'' Pugh said.

On Tuesday, former classmate Gregory Coleman testified that Skakel told him he beat Moxley's skull in with a golf club after she rejected his romantic advances. He said Skakel told him: ''I'm going to get away with murder. I'm a Kennedy.''

Coleman said Skakel made the statements in the late 1970s, while they both were students at the Elan school, a residential substance abuse treatment center in Maine.

During cross-examination Wednesday, Coleman admitted that he had told the grand jury that Skakel confessed to him five times, although he said on the stand Tuesday that Skakel had confessed to him twice.

Coleman also admitted he sometimes has trouble with his ability to recall. But he adamantly stood by his testimony that Skakel told him he killed Moxley.

''I am sure of that - not 99.9 percent but 100 percent,'' Coleman said.

Under the law in effect in 1975, Skakel could face a maximum of four years if he is convicted as a juvenile. If he is convicted as an adult, he could get 25 years to life.

The hearing will resume June 28, when the defense will begin presenting its case. Sherman said he plans to call several former students at Elan.