Offender Resorted to Violence: His immaturity
and/or intoxicated state left him inadequately
equipped to effectively deal with the victim on an
emotional or intellectual level equivalent to the
victim.
Choice of Weapon: The weapon utilized to
commit the murder is not one normally associated with
violence. Its use is strongly indicative of
impulsiveness, immaturity and/or lack of experience
in violent crimes on the part of the offender.
Overkill: Overkill is defined as using much
more violence than necessary to kill a person. In
this case there were 14 to 15 blows to the victim's
head. Any one of several of the blows would have
resulted in death. Again, this is strongly indicative
of anger and rage directed in a very personal way to
the victim.
Body Disposal Site: The area selected to
dispose of the body is not one that would be selected
by a person unfamiliar with the area. It is a
considerable distance from the major attack site and
subjected the killer to much greater possibility of
being observed while moving the body. The killer had
to know of the location of the tree and the cover it
provided.
The Academy Group, however, also site
certain characteristics for the probable offender
which are not consistent with Tommy Skakel. Most
notably: the Academy Group believe the offender was
sexually inexperienced, a habitual window-peeper, and
an emotional loner. To the best of our knowledge,
these conditions are not consistent with Tommy's
behavior at the time in question.
One of the best sources of information regarding the
behavior and background of Tommy Skakel is the
extensive report of Dr. Stanley Lesse, dated May 11,
1976. Not only did Dr. Lesse conduct numerous tests
and interviews with Tommy, he produced a thorough
review of Tommy's prior medical and psychological
records. Dr. Lesse made a reasonable effort at
evaluating all the extenuating circumstances of
Tommy' s childhood, including the death of his mother
and the difficulty of living with a father disabled
by alcoholism. Operating with the full cooperation of
the Skakel family, he was privy to more facets of
Tommy's childhood than any other single
evaluator.
It should be noted that Dr. Lesse was retained by
Rushton Skakel for the express purpose of determining
the validity of assertions made by a psychiatrist
from the Yale University school of Medicine, Dr. M.
Hale, who had been contracted as a consultant for the
Greenwich Police Department. Dr. Hale, who was given
access to Tommy's school and medical records by the
police, suggested Tommy might be afflicted
with an organic neurological problem that could have
resulted in a violent outburst that could have
resulted in the brutal murder of Martha
Moxley. Dr. Lesse further explains:
Dr. Hale stressed a report by Dr. Walter
Camp, a neurologist in Connecticut who had examined
Tommy when he was age 8. The report indicated that at
age 4, Tommy was in an automobile driven by a
neighbor when the door of the car opened and Tommy
was projected out of the car. He struck his head and
was allegedly unconscious for 10 hours. He was
hospitalized for two weeks in the
Greenwich
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