Michael Skakel Murder Conviction Overturned: CT Supreme Court

GREENWICH, CT — The murder conviction of Michael Skakel - who was convicted in 2002 in the 1975 murder of 15-year-old Martha Moxley in Greenwich - was overturned by the Connecticut Supreme Court Friday, vacating the conviction, reports the Hartford Courant.

Friday's 4-3 ruling essentially says that Skakel - a nephew of the late Robert F. Kennedy and his widow, Ethel Kennedy - had an inadequate defense when he was convicted, therefore violating his right to a fair trial, according to the publication. Skakel was granted a new trial in 2013 and has remained free on bail ever since, despite the efforts of prosecutors who sought to have him remanded back to jail.

Skakel now resides in Westchester County, according to the Greenwich Time, and he could remain free because prosecutors may decide not to retry him for the 1975 murder, writes the Courant. The case has been the focus of books, television news segments and years worth of print media stories.

Though the state Supreme Court had upheld the conviction less than two years ago, the composition of the court has changed in the interim. The four justices in the majority in Friday's ruling found that Skakel's attorney at the time, Mickey Sherman, had ignored calling a potential key witness to testify.

That witness, the Courant writes, would have confirmed Skakel's alibi, and could have swayed the 2002 trial to a decision of not guilty.

Click here to read the full story on the Courant website.

Photo Credit: KEVIN WISNIEWSKI/REX/Shutterstock

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