New Murder Trial Ordered For Kennedy Cousin Michael Skakel

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — The Connecticut Supreme Court has vacated Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel's murder conviction and ordered a new trial in connection with a 1975 killing in wealthy Greenwich.

The court issued a 4-3 ruling Friday that Skakel's trial attorney, Michael Sherman, failed to present evidence of an alibi. The decision reversed the court's previous ruling that reinstated Skakel's conviction after a lower court had ordered a new trial.

Skakel is a nephew of Robert F. Kennedy's widow, Ethel Kennedy. He was convicted of murder in 2002 in the bludgeoning death of Martha Moxley in their wealthy Greenwich neighborhood in 1975, when they were teenagers.

He was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison, but another judge granted him a new trial in 2013, citing mistakes by his trial lawyer.

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