On October 30, 1975, 15-year-old Martha Moxley was bludgeoned to death in her family's backyard in the Bell Haven section of Greenwich, Connecticut. The weapon: a golf club belonging to the Skakel family. Her body was found dragged under a tree, a blood trail marking where she had been struck. For nearly three decades, the case remained officially unsolved—until authorities charged Michael Skakel, then 42 years old and a nephew of Robert F. Kennedy's widow, Ethel Kennedy.
Skakel and Moxley were neighbors. Prosecutors built their case around a theory of sibling rivalry and jealousy. According to their narrative, Martha had engaged in a sexual liaison with Michael's brother, Tommy Skakel, and had rebuffed Michael's advances. This rejection, prosecutors argued, gave Michael motive. At trial in 2002, they presented Moxley's diary entries, witness testimony about incriminating statements allegedly made by Skakel, and evidence pointing to the family's golf club as the murder weapon. A jury convicted him, and he received a sentence of 20 years to life.
Michael Skakel spent over 11 years behind bars. Then, in 2013, the Connecticut Supreme Court overturned his conviction—not because new evidence proved his innocence, but because his trial attorney, Mickey Sherman, had provided ineffective legal representation.
The failures were significant. Sherman had not adequately focused on Tommy Skakel as a possible suspect, despite the brother's potential involvement in Martha's life. More damaging still, Sherman had failed to contact or present crucial alibi witnesses. Skakel, it turned out, had been miles away from the crime scene on the night of Martha's death, watching a Monty Python movie with friends. This alibi evidence never reached the jury.
The Connecticut Supreme Court determined that these omissions were serious enough to warrant overturning the conviction. In May 2018, after additional appeals, Skakel's conviction was officially vacated. He was released from prison after serving more than a decade.
In 2020, the state prosecutor made a significant announcement: there would be no retrial. The murder charge against Michael Skakel was dropped. The Martha Moxley case, which had captured national attention partly because of the Kennedy family connection, officially remained unsolved.
But Skakel's legal battle didn't end there. In November 2023, he filed suit in Stamford state court against the lead police investigator and the town of Greenwich, alleging malicious prosecution, civil rights violations, and other wrongdoing. He is seeking damages exceeding $15,000.
