Tue Mar 21, 4:35 PM ET
Kennedy relative Michael Skakel will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court in a bid to overturn his conviction in the 1975 murder of his 15-year-old neighbor Martha Moxley, his lawyer said on Tuesday.
Skakel, now 45, was convicted in 2002 of bludgeoning Moxley to death with one of his mother's golf clubs and was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison.
In January, Skakel, 15 at the time of the murder, lost an appeal of that decision to the Connecticut Supreme Court. Skakel's lawyers filed a motion on February 14 asking the court to review its decision, but this was denied.
Skakel's lawyers have argued the state's five-year statute of limitations had expired when the relative of the Kennedy political family was charged in 2000 with the murder, committed 25 years earlier.
Skakel is a nephew of Sen. Robert Kennedy's widow, Ethel. Robert Kennedy, brother of slain U.S. President John F. Kennedy, was assassinated in 1968.
Skakel's attorney, Hope Seeley, said she would also file a petition in state court seeking a new trial on grounds that Skakel had ineffective legal counsel in 2002. "We will pursue all legal avenues," she said in a statement.
Evidence included testimony by a former classmate who said Skakel had boasted three years after the murder he would get away with it, "because I'm a Kennedy."
Moxley's body was found on the lawn of her parents' home in the affluent town of Greenwich, Connecticut, next door to the Skakel house. She had been bludgeoned with a golf club that matched a set belonging to Skakel's late mother.
Skakel still has a petition for a new trial pending in Stamford Superior Court.
The case added to the aura of tragedy haunting America's most celebrated political family some four decades after the assassinations of its most famous scions, John and Robert.
The powerful Kennedy family has faced battles with alcoholism and drug addiction, as well as suicides, courtroom dramas and tragic deaths.
Kennedy relative Michael Skakel will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court in a bid to overturn his conviction in the 1975 murder of his 15-year-old neighbor Martha Moxley, his lawyer said on Tuesday.
Skakel, now 45, was convicted in 2002 of bludgeoning Moxley to death with one of his mother's golf clubs and was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison.
In January, Skakel, 15 at the time of the murder, lost an appeal of that decision to the Connecticut Supreme Court. Skakel's lawyers filed a motion on February 14 asking the court to review its decision, but this was denied.
Skakel's lawyers have argued the state's five-year statute of limitations had expired when the relative of the Kennedy political family was charged in 2000 with the murder, committed 25 years earlier.
Skakel is a nephew of Sen. Robert Kennedy's widow, Ethel. Robert Kennedy, brother of slain U.S. President John F. Kennedy, was assassinated in 1968.
Skakel's attorney, Hope Seeley, said she would also file a petition in state court seeking a new trial on grounds that Skakel had ineffective legal counsel in 2002. "We will pursue all legal avenues," she said in a statement.
Evidence included testimony by a former classmate who said Skakel had boasted three years after the murder he would get away with it, "because I'm a Kennedy."
Moxley's body was found on the lawn of her parents' home in the affluent town of Greenwich, Connecticut, next door to the Skakel house. She had been bludgeoned with a golf club that matched a set belonging to Skakel's late mother.
Skakel still has a petition for a new trial pending in Stamford Superior Court.
The case added to the aura of tragedy haunting America's most celebrated political family some four decades after the assassinations of its most famous scions, John and Robert.
The powerful Kennedy family has faced battles with alcoholism and drug addiction, as well as suicides, courtroom dramas and tragic deaths.
