Kennedy Cousin Whose Conviction in Martha Moxley Murder Was Vacated Claims in New Lawsuit That Legal Misconduct Sent Him to Prison

Michael Skakel, a cousin of the Kennedy family who was convicted in the 1975 murder of Martha Moxley, is suing the Connecticut town of Greenwich and its police department, claiming that he was wrongfully imprisoned.

Skakel, who was released in 2013 on procedural grounds and the conviction was overturned in 2018, has claimed through his attorneys that misconduct by investigators led to his wrongful conviction, according to the Greenwich Time.

"For a sensationalized 'Kennedy Cousin' murder he didn’t commit, he was given 11 and a half years of his life in jail," Skakel's defense lawyer Stephan Seeger said to the newspaper adding that his client is not ready to leave his conviction behind.

"Try picking up where you left off under that dark cloud," he said. "Of course, it’s not something he can walk away from — why would anybody?"

Skakel, the nephew of Ethel and Robert Kennedy, was convicted in 2002 for the October 1975 murder of 15-year-old Martha Moxley. Her body was found on her family's estate, located across the street from the Skakel home.

During the trial, it was alleged that he carried out the crime because he was angry she rebuffed his advances and became sexually involved with his brother instead. He's maintained that he was miles away watching an episode of Monty Python with friends at the time of the murder.

Skakel was freed in 2013 after an appeal in which he claimed he did not receive a fair trial due to inadequate legal counsel. The Connecticut Supreme Court agreed and vacated the conviction in 2018.

In 2020, prosecutors declined to carry out a retrial for him due to a lack of additional evidence for forensic testing, and because a number of witnesses who had passed away.

Skakel's lawsuit was filed last month in Connecticut Superior Court and claims that his civil rights were violated and that he was the victim of "malicious prosecution" and "abuse of power." Also named in the lawsuit, is the lead investigator, Frank Garr, a former detective for the Greenwich Police Department.

The suit claims that Garr and other investigators ignored other suspects, and disregarded an alibi witness while intimidating other witnesses, according to the Greenwich Time.

It also cites the prosecution's main witness, Gregory Coleman, who said that he heard Skakel confess to Moxley's murder at a boarding school for troubled youth in the late 1970s. The suit contends that Coleman, who died of a heroin overdose in 2001, "was mentally unstable and was a complete liar who could not be trusted."

The new filing is the second lawsuit Skakel has filed against Garr and the town of Greenwich.

In April, his legal team said they were seeking to have recordings Skakel made with a writer for a planned memoir in 1997 returned. Garr had confiscated the recordings from the writer's home.

"We have asked for these illegally seized tapes over several years. Regardless of the forum, the state has refused to return the tapes without a valid legal basis — these tapes are Michael Skakel’s property," Seeger said.

Neither the prosecution nor Garr responded to requests for comment from Greenwich Time.