Breaking news today out of Connecticut where the state supreme court has ordered a new trial for Kennedy Cousin Michael Skakel over the murder of then 15-year-old Martha Moxley with a golf club in 1975:
The Connecticut Supreme Court has vacated Michael Skakel’s conviction for the 1975 murder of Martha Moxley. The court ruled that Skakel’s attorney failed to adequately represent him, and ordered a new trial.
— NPR (@NPR) May 4, 2018
Skakel’s attorney at the trial, Michael Sherman, pleaded guilty in 2010 for failure to file federal income taxes. Skakel’s new legal team had argued that Sherman was more
On Wednesday, Sherman, a 63-year-old Greenwich lawyer and resident, found himself on the other end of the news talk shows after he pleaded guilty in federal court to two misdemeanor charges of willfully failing to pay his 2001 and 2002 federal income taxes. Prior to his plea, Sherman paid about $400,000 of the $420,710 in taxes, interest and penalties owed for those years.
U.S. District Judge Janet C. Hall set Sept. 27 for sentencing, at which time Sherman faces up to a year in prison and a $200,000 fine on each charge.
In his appeals, Skakel claimed “that Sherman was more interested in collecting fees to settle Sherman’s own financial problems than in defending Skakel.”
Skakel’s relationship to the Kennedy clan:
Skakel is a nephew of Robert F. Kennedy’s widow, Ethel Kennedy.
— NPR (@NPR) May 4, 2018
Skakel had been previously convicted of the crime in 2002:
Skakel was convicted in 2002 of murdering Moxley, his Greenwich, Conn. neighbor, when they were teenagers. He was sentenced to 20 years to life, but has been out on bail since 2013, when a lower court called for a new trial. https://t.co/XICbCaI72N
— NPR (@NPR) May 4, 2018
Recommended
The conviction was upheld in a 2016 ruling, but that was reversed today:
Today’s ruling reverses a 2016 ruling by the state’s high court upholding the conviction.
— NPR (@NPR) May 4, 2018
Skakel, however, “has been free since late 2013 while the court considered this latest appeal.”
CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin called Skakel “guilty as hell” and says today’s ruling is a “disgrace”:
I covered the trial of Michael #Skakel. He was guilty as hell. The reversal of his conviction is a disgrace. My late pal Dominick Dunne weeps and rages from above on behalf of the Moxley family. #richpeoplejustice
— Jeffrey Toobin (@JeffreyToobin) May 4, 2018
How devastating this must be for Martha’s family right now after all these years:
“I’m disappointed. I have no doubt in my mind that Michael Skakel is the person murdered my daughter” – Dorothy Moxley, mother of Martha Moxley speaking live right now on @NBCConnecticut #NBCCT.
— Heidi Voight (@HeidiVoight) May 4, 2018
***
Join the conversation as a VIP Member