Kennedy Cousin Skakel Murder Conviction Reinstated

GREENWICH, CT — The state's Supreme Court reinstated the murder conviction of Michael Skakel, a cousin of the Kennedy family, the Associated Press reports.

Skakel was convicted of 1975 murder of neighbor Martha Moxley, 15, in 2002. A golf club was used to bludgeon Moxley to death in the Belle Haven section of Greenwich on Halloween Eve when both were 15 years old.

A Superior Court judge ruled in 2013 that the trial was tainted by ineffective lawyers. Skakel has been free on a $1.2 million bond since winning the new trial.

The Supreme Court reversed the ruling in a 4-3 decision Friday.

Skakel's lawyers had argued that his criminal attorney Michael Sherman rendered "constitutionally ineffective assistance," according to the Supreme Court decision. Skakel had made previous attempts to have his conviction overturned on other grounds.

A lower court found that Sherman was ineffective on three grounds; that he didn't implicate Skakel's brother Thomas, call another alibi witness and failed to call three witnesses that could have possibly called some testimony into question.

The decision was appealed and cross appealed and over a long legal road ended up on State Supreme Court's docket.

"We conclude that the habeas court’s conclusions as to each of those claims must be rejected," the State Supreme Court wrote in its decision.

Related:

• Did Michael Skakel Kill Martha Moxley? Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Argues His Cousin Did Not Do It
• Michael Skakel Rants That Investigator, Prosecutor in Greenwich Murder Case 'Are Terrorists'
• Prosecutors Appeal Ruling that Overturned Skakel Conviction in Moxley Murder
• State to Argue for Reinstatement of Skakel Murder Conviction
• Skakel Appears in Rockville Court for Bail Hearing

Skakel is the nephew of Robert Kennedy's widow Ethel.

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