Court issues final ruling reinstating Skakel conviction

HARTFORD, Conn. – The Connecticut Supreme Court has finalized a ruling that reinstated the murder conviction of Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel.

The court on Monday released a final, edited version of a decision announced in December. Skakel’s request for justices to reconsider that decision remains pending.

Skakel was convicted in 2002 of murder in the bludgeoning of Martha Moxley in their wealthy Greenwich neighbourhood in 1975, when they were both teenagers. He was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison, but was freed on bail in 2013 after a lower court granted him a new trial because of mistakes made by his trial lawyer.

The state Supreme Court ruled 4-3 in December that Skakel’s trial lawyer, Michael Sherman, provided an adequate defence and overturned the lower court.

Skakel remains free on bail.