Kennedy cousin’s new murder trial contested

HARTFORD, Conn. – Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel’s conviction for a 1975 murder was the result of a myriad of poor decisions by his trial lawyer, who failed to tell jurors that his brother might have committed the killing, Skakel’s appellate attorney told the Connecticut Supreme Court on Wednesday.

Outside the courtroom, Skakel’s cousin Robert F. Kennedy Jr. repeated previous statements he has made about evidence showing two other men killed teenager Martha Moxley, who was bludgeoned to death with a golf club in the wealthy Greenwich neighborhood where she and the Skakel family lived at the time.

Prosecutors went before the state’s highest court Wednesday to argue that Skakel’s 2002 murder conviction should be reinstated.

Skakel, 55, a nephew of Robert F. Kennedy’s widow, Ethel, had been sentenced to 20 years to life in prison. But a judge in 2013 ordered a new trial after finding that defense attorney Michael Sherman failed to adequately represent his client.

Skakel, now free on $1.2 million bail, sat next to Kennedy Jr. in the gallery of the courtroom during the arguments. Skakel declined to comment.

It’s not clear when the court will issue its decision.

Prosecutor Susann Gill told the justices that Sherman, who has defended his work, did a competent job investigating and trying the case, and that Skakel’s appellate lawyers have not met the high burden under case law to prove ineffective counsel.