Search results
May 16, 2023 · Robert Robinson, 17, Tahj Brewton, 16, and Christopher Atkins, 12, have been indicted on charges for crimes that allegedly lead to the deaths of Layla Silvernail, 16, Michael Hodo Jr., 17, and Camille Quarles, 16. “Not only are the victims juveniles, but the murderers are juveniles as well,” Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods bitterly ...
Murder trial juror announces release date for latest book in Murdaugh true crime saga The fatal 2019 boat crash was followed by the June 2021 murders of Paul Murdaugh and his mother, Maggie, at ...
May 16, 2023 · Michael Hodo Jr., 17, was found dead with a gunshot wound to the back of the head on March 31, not far from the first scene. And Camille Quarles, 16, was found shot to death on April 1 in the ...
- Overview
- Trial made international headlines
- Martha Moxley's journal
Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel, whose murder conviction in the 1970s killing of a teenager in Connecticut was overturned, is suing the lead police investigator in the case and the town of Greenwich for alleged malicious prosecution, civil rights violations and other claimed wrongdoing. The case made headlines worldwide and was the subject of the "48 Hours" episode "The Diary of Martha Moxley."
Skakel, 63, a nephew of Robert F. Kennedy's widow, Ethel Kennedy, was found guilty in 2002 of the 1975 bludgeoning death of Martha Moxley, who lived across the street from the Skakel family in wealthy Greenwich and whose body was found in her family's backyard. Both Skakel and Moxley were 15 at the time of her death.
"It was devastating. You have no peace. You've lost it all," Martha's childhood friend Tori Holland told "48 Hours" correspondent Erin Moriarty in 2021.
The Connecticut Supreme Court overturned Skakel's conviction in 2018, after he had served more than 11 years in prison, saying his defense lawyer failed to present evidence of an alibi. A state prosecutor announced in 2020 that Skakel would not be put on trial again and the murder charge was dropped.
The new lawsuit alleges the investigator, Frank Garr, was intent on getting Skakel convicted and withheld key evidence about other potential suspects from Skakel's trial defense.
The defendants in the lawsuit "knew that there were other more likely suspects and that there was no probable cause to arrest and/or maintain a prosecution against the Plaintiff (Skakel), but continued to do so intentionally and maliciously, in order to convict a 'Kennedy Cousin,'" the suit alleges.
The case drew international attention because of the Kennedy name, Skakel's rich family, numerous theories about who killed Moxley and the brutal way in which she died. Several other people, including Skakel's brother Tommy Skakel, were mentioned as possible killers. Tommy Skakel denied involvement in the killing.
The slaying took place in the exclusive Bell Haven section of Greenwich where Martha and Skakel were neighbors. At trial, prosecutors said Skakel was angry with Martha because she had spurned his advances while having a sexual liaison with Tommy. There also was witness testimony about incriminating statements Skakel allegedly made.
Skakel's appellate lawyers later argued that Skakel's trial attorney, Mickey Sherman, made poor decisions, including not focusing on Tommy as a possible suspect and failing to attempt to contact an alibi witness. They said Skakel was several miles away from the crime scene, watching a Monty Python movie with friends when Moxley was killed on Oct. 30, 1975.
Sherman has defended his representation of Skakel.
There was no physical evidence and no eyewitness linking Skakel to the killing, his attorneys said.
Skakel's cousin, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., now a presidential candidate, was one of his staunchest defenders and wrote a book saying Skakel was framed.
Moxley kept a diary which became evidence after her murder, "48 Hours" correspondent Erin Moriarty reported. In her entries, she described her relationship with the Skakel brothers. The month before she died, she wrote about going for ice cream with Michael and Tommy: "Went driving in Tom's car ... and I was practically sitting on Tom's lap. … He kept putting his hand on my knee."
Moxley's friends told police Tommy wanted to date her, but his advances might not have always been welcomed. On October 4, 1975, a little over three weeks before her murder, she wrote: "I went to a party … Tom S. was being an ass. At the dance, he kept putting his arms around me and making moves."
Although Tommy Skakel became a suspect as the last person known to have seen Martha alive, he had an alibi and Greenwich Police Department didn't have enough evidence to arrest him. So, when Tommy's brother Michael Skakel was arrested for Moxley's murder in 2000 after reports circulated that he had allegedly confessed to the killing, the story grabbed headlines worldwide.
Michael Skakel was 41 years old when his trial began in June 2002. The state's case hinged on the theory that enraged with jealousy over Martha's relationship with Tommy, Michael had killed her in a drunken rage.
2 days ago · Oxygen's Philly Homicide, which premieres this Saturday, October 26, will bring to us the case of Maurice Day, among several high-profile homicide cases in the Philadelphia region.
6 days ago · Judge Michael Kraynick talks with state and defense lawyers during the Sarah Boone second-degree murder trial in Orange County Courthouse Orlando, Fla., Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024. (Willie J. Allen Jr ...
Apr 29, 2023 · This comes five months after vile Michael Wayne Jones Jr. pleaded guilty to four counts of first-degree murder in the children’s deaths and one count of second-degree murder in wife Casei Jones ...
