-Caveat Lector-
All I can say is: "convenient"...
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Witness against Skakel overdoses
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Aug. 9 - GREENWICH -- A key witness in the murder case against Kennedy
nephew Michael Skakel died Tuesday in Rochester, N.Y., of an apparent drug
overdose, police said Wednesday.
Gregory Coleman, who attended a substance abuse program in Maine with Skakel
was found dead Tuesday morning in the driveway of a home, said Rochester
Police Lt. Jeff Clark.
Coleman testified that Skakel once told him: I'm gonna get away with
murder. I'm a Kennedy.
But Coleman, 39, also admitted during a hearing in April that he was
under the influence of heroin when he testified before a one-judge grand
jury.
Fairfield State's Attorney Jonathan Benedict said he would still
prosecute the case without batting an eyelash. He said he would submit for
evidence a transcript of Coleman's testimony from pretrial hearings.
It is a tragedy. He was an engaging individual, Benedict said.
The state had been expected to rely heavily on Coleman's testimony that
Skakel admitted killing 15-year-old Martha Moxley in 1975.
Dorthy Moxley, Martha's mother, said there are other witnesses -- some
of them only recently located -- who can support Coleman's allegation that
Skakel confessed.
I thought he was close to a hero for coming forward, Dorthy Moxley said
of Coleman. I don't think it mattered if he was on drugs.
Skakel, 40, is the son of Rushton Skakel, the brother of Robert F.
Kennedy's widow, Ethel.
Clark said Coleman was the sixth of seven area drug addicts to die
under similar circumstances in the last week.
We believe they may be related, he said. We are looking at it as a
possible drug overdose. We don't have any evidence to suggest the drugs are
tainted right now. That's going to take toxicology tests to determine.
Skakel's defense lawyer, Michael Sherman, called the death not terribly
surprising. He said Skakel, who has had his own struggles with addiction,
looks upon Coleman's death as a very sad event.
Prosecutors could not immediately be reached for comment Wednesday
evening. Phone calls to the home of Fairfield County State's Attorney
Jonathan Benedict went unanswered.
The state had been expected to rely heavily on Coleman's testimony that
Skakel admitted killing 15-year-old Martha Moxley in 1975.
Moxley was beaten to death with a golf club that matched a set owned by
the Skakels, who lived nearby in the exclusive Belle Haven neighborhood of
Greenwich. Skakel was also 15 at the time.
Several years later, Coleman and Skakel were classmates at the Elan
School in Poland Spring, Maine. Coleman and another former student have
testified in pretrial proceedings that Skakel admitted killing Moxley the
night of Oct. 30, 1975.
No arrests were made for more than 24 years. Skakel was charged in the
killing in January 2000 and later arraigned as a juvenile. A juvenile court
judge ruled in January that Skakel should be tried as an adult and found
that reasonable cause existed to try Skakel.
A second hearing was required after the case was transferred to adult
court. It was during that proceeding that Coleman stunned the courtroom by
admitting he had been high when he testified to the grand jury.
Sherman had asked Coleman why he told the grand jury Skakel discussed
the murder five or six times but later said it was only one or two times.
I was on drugs when I came before the grand jury, Coleman answered.
Coleman also testified that he used crack cocaine and heroin before a
television interview on the case in Rochester.
Are you on drugs now? Sherman asked.
No, Coleman replied. Give me a urine test, he added.
No thanks, Sherman said, drawing laughter from the courtroom but a
reprimand from the judge.
Coleman went on to describe his own life filled with alcoholism, drug
addiction, a criminal record and homelessness, at times living under a
bridge.
Another former classmate, John Higgins, testified that Skakel told him
of the killing during a tearful confession on the front porch of a dormitory
while the two served as night guards.
He related to me at some point prior to being there, there was a murder
and that he was somehow involved in it, Higgins said.
He described a drawn-out confession in which Skakel initially said he
did not know if he committed the murder.
He eventually stated that I must have done it' and eventually stated I
did it,' Higgins said.
But Higgins admitted he lied to investigators when they first asked him
about the alleged confession. He also admitted asking about a $50,000 reward
in the case.
Two other Elan students testified for the defense that they never heard
Skakel confess.
Joseph Ricci, the founder of the Elan School, had also insisted that
Skakel never made any admissions while a student there. Ricci, who testified
before the grand jury but not at the probable cause hearing, died in January
John Moxley, Martha's brother, noted Wednesday that transcripts of
Coleman's testimony could still be used in a trial, and may be more
effective than putting the drug addict on the stand.
The man won't be there for the defense to take pot shots at, he said.
Rochester Police Chief Robert Duffy said most of the drug victims
appear to have been using heroin. But evidence of crack and powdered cocaine
was also at many of the scenes. Investigators are unsure whether the drugs
were adulterated or are unusually potent.
Buffalo, N.Y., police have reported nine similar deaths since May 24.
Sherman declined to characterize the expected effect of Coleman's death
on the prosecution case.
I'll let others make a judgment on this, he said.
Skakel has pleaded innocent. A hearing to consider pretrial motions is scheduled
for next Wednesday in Stamford Superior Court.
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