Media

What did Michael Skakel really say?

by Dan Kennedy

It was the most dramatic -- if contrived -- moment of Michael Skakel's March 14 arraignment on murder charges: a face-to-face confrontation between Skakel and Dorthy Moxley, whose daughter Skakel is accused of killing nearly 25 years ago. Skakel spoke. Reporters tried to listen. And no one can agree on what he said.

Of the news organizations that sent their own reporters to the scene, most -- including the Boston Globe, the hometown Stamford Advocate, the New York Times, and the Associated Press -- went with "I feel your pain, but you've got the wrong guy," or "Dorthy, I feel your pain, but you've got the wrong guy."

But the Boston Herald quoted Skakel as saying, "I know you're hurting. But you have the wrong man." The New York Post offered yet another variation: "I feel sorry for you, but you've got the wrong guy." And USA Today quoted Skakel as saying, "You've got the wrong guy. I'm sorry for your grief."

So what gives?

"I was sitting right behind Dorthy Moxley when he [Skakel] came over," says the Globe's Brian MacQuarrie. Skakel spoke softly, though MacQuarrie says he was able to hear his exact words. Immediately afterward, Skakel left, and MacQuarrie says he and three other reporters verified Skakel's quote with members of the Moxley family.

But Janelle Lawrence, who covered the arraignment for the Herald, says it appeared to her that no reporters could hear what Skakel said to Moxley. "Nobody actually heard the statement," she says. "We could see it happening." Lawrence adds that she got the quote she attributed to Skakel directly from the Moxley family, saying, "They did hang out for a little while and talk."

No doubt those reporters who reconstructed Skakel's words by talking with the Moxleys quoted the family accurately. The problem is that they were relying on the Moxleys to recall perfectly a shocking and stressful moment. Even MacQuarrie, who apparently did hear Skakel, was concerned enough to double-check what he'd heard with the Moxleys.

The result: different versions of Skakel's words, with no hint to readers that most of the reporters had not heard Skakel directly.