she went to a party with friends and seen flitting with 17-year-old thomas skakel. she never returned home. the next day her body was found in her yard in connecticut stabbed to death but a broken golf club found near her body. that club was traced back to the skakel home but in prints found. >> they hit her so hard the golf club broke and took the shaft and stabbed her six or seven times. >> reporter: suspicion immediately fell on thomas skakel. next the tutor that moved in the with the family the day of the murder but police didn't charge either of them siting a lack of evidence. for two decades the case languished and a series of books renewed interest and led to new tips and a new suspect in january of 2000, 40-year-old michael skakel, thomas skakel's little brother. michael was also 15 at the time of the crime, which meant 25 years later, he would be charged as a juvenile. he turned himself into police after an arrest warrant was issued, all the while proclaiming innocence. >> to my knowledge, this is no physical evidence, dna evidence, scientific evidence, any

shaft and they stand her with it six of seven times. >> reporter: suspicion immediately fell on thomas skakel, the last person seen with mock lit the night of the party. another suspect was ken littleton, an skakel family tutor who moved in with the family the day of the murder. the police never charged either of them, citing a lack of evidence. for two decades the case languished. a series of books on the high profile crime led to renewed interest and new tips. a new suspect in january of 2000, 40-year-old michael skakel, thomas skakel's little brother. michael was also 15 at the time of the crime, which meant 25 years later he was charged as a juvenile. he turned himself into police after an arrest warrant was issued, all the while proclaiming his innocence. >> to my knowledge there's no physical evidence, there's no dna evidence, no scientific evidence or anything that links michael skakel to this crime. >> reporter: despite that, a number of witnesses placed him at the crime scene the night of the murder. two witnesses testifying they heard skakel boasting he could get away with murder be

shaft and they stabbed her with it six of seven times. >> reporter: suspicion immediately fell on thomas skakel, the last person seen with moxley the night of the party. another suspect was ken littleton, a skakel family tutor who moved in with the family the day of the murder. the police never charged either of them, citing a lack of evidence. for two decades the case languished. a series of books on the high-profile crime led to renewed interest and new tips. a new suspect in january of 2000, 40-year-old michael skakel, thomas skakel's little brother. michael was also 15 at the time of the crime, which meant 25 years later, he was charged as a juvenile. he turned himself into police after an arrest warrant was issued, all the while proclaiming his innocence. >> to my knowledge there's no physical evidence, there's no dna evidence, no scientific evidence or anything that links michael skakel to this crime. >> reporter: despite that, a number of witnesses placed him at the crime scene the night of the murder. two witnesses testifying they heard skakel boasting he could get away with murder beca

suspicion fell on thomas skakel. the last person seen with moxley the night of the party.ther suspect was kim middleton who move in with the family the day of the murder but police never charged either of them citing a lack of evidence. two decade the case languished. new interest and new tips. a new suspect in january of 2000, 40-year-old michael skakel, thomas skakel's little brother, michael was also 15 at the time of the crime which meant 25 years later, he was charged as a juvenile. he turned himself into police after an arrest warrant was issued all the way proclaiming his innocence. >> to my knowledge, there is no physical evidence. there is no dna evidence. no scientific evidence or anything that links michael skakel to this crime. >> reporter: despite that a number of witnesses placed him at the crime scene the night of the murder. two witnesses testified they heard boasting he could get away with murder because he was a kennedy. prosecutors claim michael skakel was jealous of his older brother's relationship with moxley and killed the girl in a jealous rage. a ch

that is, there's a claim in this decision that mickey sherman, the attorney should have blamed thomas skakel murder. >> yes. >> another family member. now, a lot of attorneys would think blaming another family member, another skakel for the murder as your defense might turn on the defendant and make him look bad. i'd like to know why sherman decided not to go with that strategy. it's not clear in the decision. >> highly unusual. we'll follow it going forward. >> pleasure, chris. >> kate, over to you. >> thanks so much. >>> coming up next on "new day," in the hot seat, questions today for the considerers who worked on the obama care website. the first of what could be many capitol hill hearings set to begin in just hours. john king will be here with our political gut check. >>> and also breaking his silence, we talk with an ohio man set to spend the next 6 1/2 years of his life in prison after admitted to driving drunk in an online video confession, coming up. >>> welcome back. it's thursday, october 24th. time now for our political gut check of the morning. congressional republicans today le

>> and also, the -- there is evidence in the case that martha moxley had been making out with thomas skakeler in the evening, and that could explain the pants being where they were, and in fact, the judge very much faulted mickey sherman for not pointing the finger atom must -- i don't want to accuse thomas skakel of being the murderer here but the judge thought he was much more of a suspect than mickey sherman indicated at the trial. >> so i so why -- why -- do you believe he's guilty? >> yeah. >> you do? >> i sat through the whole trial -- >> even though there is lack of physical evidence? >> absolutely. the prisons are full of people, in 1975 nobody had that evidence against them because it didn't exist. jonathan benedict the prosecutor gave the single best summation in a courtroom i heard anywhere pulling together all the forms of evidence in a way that was utterly persuasive. i don't think he could do it again. i think it is simply too late. i mean, dr. kay says there is no tests out there. you can't have a trial in 2014, which would be what it would be at the earliest about something

were the live-in tutor, well eventually, the live-in tutor in the skakel home, and maybe lightly, thomas skakel considered a suspect. martha: yeah. so you push this whole thing ahead. you wrote a book. they never convicted anybody in this. you wrote a book saying that you believed, based on the evidence that you saw that michael skakel was indeed guilty of this crime, right? >> absolutely and that is also because of information that i received from dominick dunne and independent information that i investigated that michael skakel made statements that he did in fact kill the teenager, martha moxley. so that was not a shocker that they would actually form a grand jury. martha: this poor girl was killed with a golf club that was found to match a set that came from the skakel household, correct? >> yes. absolutely. martha: her mother waited for justice for so many years. she was very patient through this whole process. but now, interestingly enough, this judge bishop, sort of out of the blue, is saying that he doesn't understand why mickey sherman, who was the prosecutor, the defender, rather on th

. >> among other things the judge says sherman should have tried to blame the murder of thomas skakel's brother who was last seen with. >> moxly was last seen a live in to a 1975 going to a halloween party with a group that included ide michael. the 15-year-old's body was found outside her home. police say she was beat to of the mur death. a verdict that skakel's cousin disagrees with. >> somebody decided that a skakel was going to jail. all the other evidence against nd other people were going to be was going ignored. >> in his decision judge bishop criticized the prosecution saying the evidence at trial was entirely circumstantial. goes >> the judge goes into such a profound and profuse factual detail that any new lawyer need only follow the direction of michae this opinion to possibly create a reasonable doubt in a new trial. in essence, it could be seen as a blueprint. >> prosecutors plan to appeal the decision. skakel's lawyers will ask for him to be released on bail today. >> as for moxly's family they have said michael was the murderer all along.ssibly. >> he could get out of jai

thomas, the last person seen with moxley. moxley was last seen alive in 1975 going to a halloween party with a group that included michael skakel. the next day the 15-year-old's body was found outside her greenwich, connecticut, home. police say she was bludged to death with a gulf club belonging to the skakel family. a jury finally convicted skakel of the murder in 2002. a verdict that skakel's was about robert f. kennedy jr. vehemently disagrees with. >> somebody decided a skakel was going to go to jail and all the other evidence was going to be ignored. >> reporter: the prosecution criticized it. testimony from witnesses of assailable credibility. >> the judge goes into such profound and profuse factual deta detail that any new lawyer for michael skakel need only follow the opinion to create a new trial. in essence it could be seen as a blue print. the prosecutors plan to do that. as for the moxley family, they have maintained michael skak. was the killer all allege. >> he could get out of jail today. >> possibly. shocking. >> the "washington post" obtained classified memos that showed pakistan received information on americ

thomas the last person seen with moxley. moxley was last seen alive in 1975 going to a halloween party with a group that included michael skakel. the next day the 15-year-old's body was found outside her greenwich, connecticut, home. police say she was bludged to death with a gulf club belonging to the skakel family. a jury finally convicted skakel of the murder in 2002. a verdict that skakel's was about robert f. kennedy jr. vehemently disagrees with. >> somebody decided a skakel was going to go to jail and all the other evidence was going to be ignored. >> reporter: the prosecution criticized it. testimony from witnesses of assailable credibility. >> the judge goes into such profound and profuse factual detail detail that any new lawyer for michael skakel need only follow the opinion to create a new trial. in essence it could be seen as a blue print. the prosecutors plan to do that. as for the moxley family they have maintained michael skak. was the killer all allege. >> he could get out of jail today. >> possibly. shocking. >> the "washington post" obtained classified memos that showed pakistan received information on ameri