- NORWALK, Connecticut (CNN)
- A Connecticut jury Friday convicted Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel of
bludgeoning his 15-year-old neighbor Martha Moxley to death with a golf
club more than 26 years ago.
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- The jury of six men and six women reached the verdict
in its fourth day of deliberations. When the verdict was announced Skakel
stood frozen; Moxley's mother and brother wept.
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- The case caught the public attention because of the prominence
of the Kennedy family, the fact prosecutors had to use a murder charge
because it has no statute of limitations, and the determination of Moxley
mother, Dorthy, who dogged Skakel for the past 26 years.
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- Skakel, 41, whose aunt is Ethel Skakel Kennedy, widow
of the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, could be sentenced to as few as 10
years or as many as 25 years to life in prison. A sentencing hearing will
be held July 19. District Attorney Jonathan Benedict said he would talk
with the Moxley family before deciding on what sentence to ask for.
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- Skakel's attorney, Mickey Sherman, said he will appeal.
"We are bitterly disappointed, there is no way to hide it," he
said. "As long as there is a breath in my body this case is not over
as far as I am concerned."
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- Moxley was beaten to death with a golf club outside her
Greenwich home on the night before Halloween, October 30, 1975. The golf
club matched a set owned by the Skakels, although its monogrammed handle
has never been found.
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- The prosecutor suggested after the verdict that Skakel's
family may have conspired to cover up his involvement in the crime. "I
think it is unlikely that he cleaned up his mess by himself. That's all
I will say," Benedict said.
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- He added that it was suspicious that after the crime,
Skakel was abruptly sent to a variety of boarding schools.
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- Benedict said he was always confident of getting a conviction.
"I put a lot of time in on a closing arguments," he said. "It
was an easy case to argue.... I think 90 percent of the people in the courtroom
wanted to see me connect the dots."
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- "I just could hardly believe it," Dorthy Moxley,
Martha's mother, said of the verdict afterward. "I just feel so blessed
and so overwhelmed. This is Martha's day." (Read about the challenges
facing the prosecution in the case.)
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- This is a hollow," said Martha's brother, John,
halting before adding the word "victory."
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- "Victory doesn't go with this," he said. "This
is hollow. ... It doesn't bring Martha back."
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- Skakel's younger brother, David, expressed disappointment
at the verdict.
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- "I would say that fortunately we are a family with
a bedrock of faith. Our faith has been tested today immeasurably."
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- Michael Skakel
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- He said, "Martha's short life and the manner of
hear death should never be forgotten," but added later, "truth
is more important than closure."
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- Noting that the family had cooperated with investigators
throughout, he said, "This trial has felt like a witch hunt."
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- Dorthy Moxley said she has "great empathy for the
Skakel family. They have been very supportive of their brother, I think
that is to be commended."
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- She said that for the future, "I am hoping I can
now go out and help other mothers who have lost their children and feel
there is no hope."
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- In his closing argument earlier this week, prosecutor
Benedict argued that a Skakel family conspiracy kept Michael Skakel away
from suspicion in the murder of Moxley, even during the years when his
brother Tommy was a key suspect.
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- Defense attorneys countered that no physical evidence
exists linking Skakel to Moxley's death.
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- Benedict said jealousy motivated Skakel to kill Moxley,
who was last seen flirting with Tommy Skakel in the Skakel driveway.
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- He pointed to Skakel's frequent admissions over the years
that he had been near the place where the crime occurred on the night of
Moxley's death, he said.
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- Skakel's siblings claimed they could not remember much
else about the night, except for Skakel's alibi, prompting Benedict to
say, "They feigned a lack of recall because in their actual recall
lies the truth."
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- Defense attorney Mickey Sherman zeroed in on the apparent
weaknesses of the state's case against Skakel.
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- "They have no physical evidence. They have no forensic
evidence. They have [a] sketchy motive. They have several 'I Love Lucy'
wannabes," said Sherman, saying prosecution witnesses were motivated
by a desire to be in the spotlight.
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- Sherman also highlighted previous testimony that showed
the extent to which investigators had earlier pursued Tommy Skakel and
former Skakel tutor Ken Littleton as suspects.
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- http://www.cnn.com/2002/LAW/06/07/skakel.trial/index.html
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