BREAKING NEWS: MICHAEL SKAKEL CONVICTION SET ASIDE!!! Remember this 27 year old cold case murder, where Skakel, member of the Kennedy clan, was convicted of murder? All of his appeals had been exhausted … or so I thought. This is HUGE.
No word on whether he’ll be granted bail, or whatever … story is just breaking, so will have updates soon.
Story: http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/23/justice/michael-skakel-retrial/index.html
~ Jason
—– CNN Summation —–
A Connecticut judge has ordered a new trial for Michael Skakel, the nephew of Robert and Ethel Kennedy, who was convicted of murder in 2002.
Skakel was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison and has been fighting for years to overturn his conviction, but his past attempts at appeal had been denied.
Skakel is accused of killing neighbor Martha Moxley with a golf club in 1975.
In a lengthy opinion Wednesday, Judge Thomas Bishop criticized defense attorney Michael Sherman, who represented Skakel in the high-profile murder trial.
“Although defense counsel’s errors of judgment and execution are not the fault of the state, a defendant’s constitutional right to adequate representation cannot be overshadowed by the inconvenience and financial and emotional cost of a new trial,” Bishop wrote in his decision.
CNN senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin called the order a “shocking development,” saying the case “was brilliantly litigated by the prosecutors.”
—– CNN —–