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Michael Skakel — the Kennedy cousin who spent more than a decade in prison for the 1975 murder of his teenage Connecticut neighbor before he was sprung on procedural grounds — is suing the town of Greenwich and its lead police investigator over claims he was locked behind bars in a targeted attack. The lawsuit claims investigators pinned the slaying on Skakel for their own personal and financial gain. Skakel, a nephew of Robert F. Kennedy’s widow, Ethel Kennedy, was convicted of 15-year-old Martha Moxley’s murder in 2002 and sentenced to 20 years to life in prison, but was released...

Ethel Kennedy has learned to stop worrying and love Che Guevara. The 92-year-old Kennedy clan matriarch’s late husband Robert and brother-in-law, President John F. Kennedy, may have faced off against a Russia-aligned Cuba in the infamous 1962 Missile Crisis — but that didn’t stop her from putting the face of the communist nation’s revolutionary hero on a mantle at her Palm Beach home, The Post has learned. In fact, her family says she’s been a fan of Guevara for years — and makes no apology about it. “My mom loves Che Guevara. Her dog is named Che,” her son, Robert...

The U.S. Supreme Court announced Monday it will not get involved in the state of Connecticut’s fight to reinstate Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel’s conviction for the 1975 murder of 15-year-old Martha Moxley in Greenwich. The Connecticut Supreme Court vacated Skakel’s 2002 conviction and 20-to-life sentence last May and ordered he be entitled to a new trial on charges he beat Moxley to death with a golf club. The court found Skakel was deprived of his right to effective assistance of counsel because his attorneys did not investigate a potential alibi witness who could have helped his defense. Skakel, 58, is...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court announced Monday that it is leaving in place a decision that vacated a murder conviction against Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel. Skakel was convicted in 2002 of the 1975 bludgeoning death of Martha Moxley, a 15-year-old who lived across the street from the Skakel family in Greenwich, Connecticut, and whose body was found in her family’s backyard. Both Skakel and Moxley were 15 at the time of her death. The high court’s refusal to hear the case means that a 2018 decision by Connecticut’s highest court throwing out Skakel’s conviction will stand. Connecticut’s highest court...

Sixteen months ago, the Connecticut Supreme Court reinstated the conviction, but then reversed itself on Friday and granted Skakel a new trial. In an interview with "Today" on Monday, attorney Michael Fitzpatrick said defense

HARTFORD, Conn. (WTNH) - The Connecticut Supreme Court has overturned the 1975 murder conviction of Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel. The Hartford Courant reports that the Connecticut Supreme Court voted 4-3 that Skakel's trial lawyer was so ineffective, that his right to a fair trial was violated. Skakel was convicted in the murder of his friend, Martha Moxley, when the two were neighbors in Greenwich. Skakel has been free since late 2013 while the court considered this latest appeal. He is expected to remain free unless state prosecutors make what many lawyers predict would be an unlikely decision to retry him...

(CNN)Michael Skakel could be headed back to prison after the Connecticut Supreme Court on Friday reinstated his conviction in the 1975 murder of a 15-year-old neighbor. Skakel, the 56-year-old nephew of Robert and Ethel Kennedy, had spent more than a decade in prison for the killing of Martha Moxley until a judge in 2013 decided he did not receive adequate representation in his trial and ordered a new one. On Friday, after Skakel had been free for three years, the state's high court overruled the decision. "Because we conclude that the petitioner's trial counsel rendered constitutionally adequate representation, we reverse...

HARTFORD, Conn. — A divided Connecticut Supreme Court Friday reinstated the murder conviction of Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel, rejecting a Superior Court judge’s finding that Skakel’s trial was tainted by ineffective lawyering and setting the stage for Skakel’s return to prison after three years of freedom. “Because we conclude that the petitioner’s trial counsel rendered constitutionally adequate representation, we reverse the judgment” of the lower court, a 4-3 majority of the Supreme Court wrote in a decision released Friday afternoon. Skakel was convicted in 2002 in the bludgeoning death 27 years earlier of Greenwich neighbor Martha Moxley, when she and...

Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel was denied a bid for freedom Wednesday at his first parole hearing since he was convicted a decade ago of killing his neighbor in 1975. Skakel, who proclaimed his innocence at the hearing, nodded and patted his attorney on the back after the three-person parole board read the unanimous decision. He will next be eligible for parole in 2017.

Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel turned to attorney Mickey Sherman more than a decade ago to defend him against a murder that had haunted his wealthy family for a quarter-century. Now Skakel, the nephew of Ethel Kennedy, is turning against Sherman, saying the media-savvy attorney blew the trial. Skakel was convicted in 2002 of fatally beating neighbor Martha Moxley with a golf club in wealthy Greenwich in 1975 when they were 15-year-olds. His lawyer says Skakel will file an appeal in coming weeks, challenging Sherman's effectiveness. Skakel's supporters say Sherman was distracted by the limelight and financial troubles, even though...

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) -- Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel lost his bid for a new trial in the 1975 slaying of his 15-year-old neighbor when the state Supreme Court on Monday rejected his appeal that cited a claim implicating two other men. The court ruled 4-1 against Skakel's request. Skakel - a nephew of Robert Kennedy's widow, Ethel - was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison in 2002 for fatally beating Martha Moxley with a golf club in 1975 in a wealthy Connecticut suburb

Convicted celebrity murderer Michael C. Skakel says he has uncovered secret evidence suggesting his innocence and is using it to support an unusual effort in federal court to obtain release from prison while his appeals proceed through a variety of courts. In a federal motion filed late Thursday, Skakel's lawyers say state prosecutors improperly concealed two pieces of exculpatory evidence during his trial in the murder of Martha Moxley — an interview that discredits the star prosecution witness and police reports suggesting that a 15-year-old Greenwich boy, later convicted of another murder, had information concerning Moxley's death. Skakel was 15...

A judge denied Michael Skakel’s bid for a new trial Thursday, rejecting the latest startling claim that two other men committed a 1975 killing that sent the Kennedy cousin to prison, his attorney said. Stamford Superior Court Judge Edward R. Karazin Jr. ruled against Skakel based on a week of testimony in April. The ruling was to be released at 11 a.m. Thursday. Attorney Hope Seeley said she was extremely disappointed, citing the quality of the evidence. “We believe Michael Skakel was wrongly convicted, and we will continue to pursue every legal avenue available to us,” Seeley said. Those avenues...

STAMFORD, Conn. - Robert F. Kennedy Jr. took center stage Tuesday as his convicted cousin sought a new trial for a 1975 murder, describing how he did his own sleuthing when he learned of an account implicating two other men. Michael Skakel, a nephew of Ethel Kennedy, is serving 20 years to life in prison after he was convicted of fatally beating neighbor Martha Moxley with a golf club when they were both 15. His hair is gray and he appeared thinner Tuesday than at his 2002 trial. Kennedy testified that although he and Skakel have not always been close,...

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) - Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel is going back to court this week in a bid for a new murder trial, adding yet another twist to a case that has spawned decades of intrigue. Skakel, a nephew of Ethel Kennedy, is serving 20 years to life in prison after he was convicted in 2002 of bludgeoning Martha Moxley to death with a golf club in their wealthy Greenwich neighborhood when they were 15. Skakel, 47, is seeking a new trial based on a claim by one-time schoolmate Gitano ``Tony'' Bryant implicating two of his friends in Moxley's...

Skakel Witnesses: RFK Jr., Trial Lawyer By JOHN CHRISTOFFERSEN Associated Press Writer NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) -- Michael Skakel plans to call his cousin, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and a celebrity attorney as witnesses as he appeals his murder conviction next week, according to a list filed Tuesday.Skakel, a nephew of Ethel Kennedy, is seeking a new trial based on a claim by Gitano "Tony" Bryant, who implicated his friends in the killing of 15-year-old Martha Moxley. Skakel, 47, was convicted in 2002 of bludgeoning Moxley to death with a golf club in 1975 in Greenwich and is serving 20...

SUPREME COURT (Nov. 13) - The Supreme Court on Monday let stand the murder conviction of Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel, who is serving a prison term of at least 20 years. The justices declined, without comment, to take Skakel's appeal of his conviction in the beating death of his Greenwich, Conn., neighbor, Martha Moxley, 31 years ago when the two were teenagers. Skakel, a nephew of Ethel Kennedy, was convicted in 2002. Now 46, Skakel is serving 20 years to life in prison.

A man who implicated two friends in the 1975 murder that sent Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel to prison has refused to testify, prompting a prosecutor to accuse him of making up the account. Gitano (Tony) Bryant invoked his constitutional right against self-incrimination at his deposition recently in Miami and does not plan to testify at hearings on whether Skakel deserves a new trial, said Joel Denaro, his lawyer. "What it strongly suggests to us is that Mr. Bryant's story is a fabrication and he is seeking to avoid testifying under oath for that reason," prosecutor Jonathan Benedict said. Skakel's lawyers...

A former U.S. solicitor general will help Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel appeal his murder conviction to the U.S. Supreme Court, saying Monday the case will focus on when the charges were filed. Theodore B. Olson has argued 43 cases before the nation's highest court, including representing George W. Bush in the disputed presidential race of 2000. Skakel, 45, is serving a sentence of 20 years to life for his 2002 conviction in the 1975 beating death of his Greenwich neighbor, Martha Moxley, when the two were teenagers. Skakel appealed his conviction to the Connecticut Supreme Court last year, arguing among...

Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel will be staying in jail for murder following a legal defeat in Connecticut's courts Skakel spent the past year appealing his conviction for the murder of his teenage neighbor three decades ago but Connecticut's highest court rejected that appeal. NewsCenter 5's Gail Huff reported that that means it's almost certain that Skakel will be spending at least another 16 years in prison. Lawyers and family members were notified of the high court's ruling Thursday, but it has yet to be filed. The victim's mother went public with the news. Martha Moxley was bludgeoned to death with...