Judge Sets Aside Conviction, Orders New Trial For Michael Skakel In Martha Moxley Murder

[TorchTheWitch]

83. because they spent those years appealing for various other reasons

All shot down. This latest appeal against his trial attorney happened to work. Funny how it took all those years to decide that his trial attorney sucked after all the other appeals that were thrown against the wall to see if one would stick.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Skakel
Appeals

Skakel continued to fight his conviction. In November 2003, Skakel appealed to the Connecticut Supreme Court, arguing that the trial court erred because the case should have been heard in Juvenile Court rather than Superior Court, that the statute of limitations had expired on the charges against him, and that there was prosecutorial misconduct. On January 12, 2006, however, the Connecticut Supreme Court rejected Skakel's claims and affirmed his conviction. Subsequently, Skakel retained attorney and former United States Solicitor General Theodore Olson, who on July 12, 2006, filed a petition for a writ of certiorari on behalf of Skakel before the Supreme Court of the United States. On November 13, 2006, the Supreme Court declined to hear the case.[18]

Since then, Skakel has begun his first round of post-conviction proceedings, beginning with a petition for writ of habeas corpus and motion for new trial in the Connecticut trial court which originally heard his case. Skakel's cousin Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has brought forth Gitano "Tony" Bryant, cousin of Los Angeles Lakers player Kobe Bryant and a former classmate of Skakel at the private Brunswick School in Greenwich, Connecticut. In a videotaped interview with Skakel private investigator Vito Colucci in August 2003, Bryant said one of his companions on the night of Moxley's murder had wanted to rape her. Bryant said he did not come forward before because his mother had warned him, and he believed her, that as a black man he would be tagged for the unsolved murder. A two-week hearing in April 2007 allowed the presentation of this hearsay evidence, among other matters.[19] In September 2007, Skakel's attorneys filed a petition, based in part on Bryant's claims, asking for a new trial; prosecutors formally responded that Bryant may have made up the story to sell a play about the case.[20]

On October 25, 2007, a Superior Court judge denied the request for a new trial, saying Bryant's testimony was not credible and there was no evidence of prosecutorial misconduct in the original trial.[21] Skakel's lawyer appealed this decision to the Connecticut Supreme Court. On March 26, 2009, a five judge panel of the state Supreme Court heard arguments on this appeal.[22] On April 12, 2010, the panel ruled 4-1 against Skakel's appeal.[23]

Skakel then appealed based on a charge of incompetence against Mickey Sherman, his lead attorney at the trial. In an April 2013 hearing in Vernon, Connecticut, Skakel testified that Sherman, rather than focusing on Skakel's defense, instead basked in celebrity. Skakel also claimed that Sherman was more interested in collecting fees to settle Sherman's own financial problems than in defending Skakel.[24] Sherman testified in defense of his actions, while continuing to maintain his belief in Skakel's innocence in the Moxley case.[25]