Cases Old and Cold

[HairOfTheDog]

The Martha Moxley Murder - Kennedy Cousin Wins Appeal

It took decades before an arrest and conviction were made in the bludgeoning murder of Greenwich, Connecticut 15-year-old, Martha Moxley. The crime took place in 1975.


Martha Moxley, murder victim

In 2002, Michael Skakel, a Kennedy cousin, was charged and convicted of the crime and got 20 years to life. His brother Thomas had also been an early suspect.

Michael Skakel, murder suspect - through the years

The trial received a massive amount of media coverage.

Well, Skakel was just recently granted a new trial as a result of a successful appeal. His conviction was overturned and today he is out on $1.2 bond until his retrial - he must wear a monitoring device and remain in Connecticut.

The appeal included claims of "incompetent representation", based partly on the fact that prominent defense attorney Mickey Sherman didn't focus enough on Thomas as an alternate suspect, and also because Sherman was unable to locate an alleged alibi witness.

Here's a good top level overview of the very interesting case.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Skakel

Here's a more in-depth article.
http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notor...ted_8.html

Side note: Ex-detective of OJ Simpson infamy, Mark Fuhrman, garnered a lot of media coverage, and redemption in some eyes, for his private investigation of the case. In 1998, he wrote a book concluding that Skakel was the killer.