Kennedy cousin denied new homicide trial

HARTFORD, Conn., April 12 (UPI) -- The Connecticut Supreme Court Monday refused to grant a new trial for Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel, convicted of murdering his 15-year-old neighbor.

Skakel's neighbor in Greenwich, Conn., Martha Moxley, was bludgeoned to death, probably with a broken 7-iron golf club found near her body, in 1975. But Skakel, the nephew of Ethel Kennedy, was not charged until 2000. He was convicted by a Connecticut jury in 2002 and sentenced to 20 years to life.

The Connecticut Supreme Court first affirmed his conviction in 2006, and his petition to the U.S. Supreme Court was rejected the same year.

Skakel's lawyers filed a new state appeal, arguing there was prosecutor misconduct.

Monday, the Connecticut Supreme Court rejected the request for a new trial, saying Skakel's "claims are to a large degree resolved by our decision in his prior appeal from the judgment of conviction. In (the case, Skakel) claimed that he was entitled to a new trial because the state improperly had withheld certain exculpatory evidence," evidence, which tended to show his innocence.

The opinion said Skakel could still pursue habeas, or constitutional, review.