Crime & Safety

Skakel Wins Bid for New Trial in Greenwich's Martha Moxley Murder

Judge rules Michael Skakel's Greenwich attorney didn't provide adequate representation.

This article was written by Barbara Heins

Former Greenwich resident Michael Skakel has won chance at a new trial for the decades-old murder of Martha Moxley, according to reports.

It was nearly 38 years ago that the 15-year-old Moxley was found murdered in the Belle Haven neighborhood on the Greenwich waterfront.

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According to WFSB-TV, a Connecticut judge has granted a new trial for Kennedy cousin Skakel, ruling his attorney, Mickey Sherman of Greenwich, failed to adequately represent him when he was convicted in 2002 of killing his neighbor in wealthy Greenwich in 1975.

The ruling by Judge Thomas Bishop marked a dramatic reversal after years of unsuccessful appeals by Skakel, the 52-year-old nephew of Robert F. Kennedy's widow, Ethel Kennedy. Skakel, 52, is about half-way through serving a 20-years to life sentence.

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Skakel's lawyers made the appeal in April, and the decision comes just about a year after he was last denied parole for his 2002 conviction.

Bridgeport State's Attorney John Smriga said prosecutors will appeal.

Skakel argued Sherman was negligent in defending him when he was convicted in the golf club bludgeoning of Martha Moxley when they were 15. 

According to the Hartford Courant, Judge Thomas Bishop devoted a good part of his 136-page Oct. 23 decision, to a harsh critique of Sherman's Skakel's original trial lawyer Michael Sherman. 


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