Kennedy family cousin Michael Skakel is suing a Connecticut town after spending ten years in prison for a wrongful conviction.
In a new lawsuit, Mr Skakel alleges authorities withheld evidence leading to his imprisonment for more than a decade after his wrongful conviction for the murder of 15-year-old Martha Moxley in 1975 in Connecticut.
According to the lawsuit, the town of Greenwich, its police department and the investigator “conspired, assisted and/or otherwise acted jointly and/or in concert with one or more of each of the aforementioned others” to violate Mr Skakel’s civil rights.
He alleges authorities withheld statements from witnesses who said two other men were in Ms Moxley’s neighbourhood the night of her murder.
The defendants in the lawsuit “knew that there were other more likely suspects and that there was no probable cause to arrest and/or maintain a prosecution against the Plaintiff (Skakel), but continued to do so intentionally and maliciously, in order to convict a ‘Kennedy Cousin,’” the suit alleges.
Ms Moxley, who lived across the street from the Skakel family in wealthy Greenwich, was found dead in her family’s backyard in 1975 after she was bludgeoned to death with a golf club from the Skakel family home.
Mr Skake was first arrested in connection with Ms Moxley’s death in 2000 before he was found guilty and sentenced to 20 years to life in prison in 2002.
However, he was released from prison in 2013 after a judge overturned his conviction when it was determined his old trial lawyer failed to adequately represent him. The chief state’s attorney declined to prosecute Mr Skakel again in 2020, solidifying his freedom.
At the trial, prosecutors argued Mr Skakel was angry with Ms Moxley because she had spurned his advances while having a sexual liaison with his brother, Tommy.
Tommy Skakel, among others, was mentioned as a possible killer, However, he has denied any involvement in the killing.
Meanwhile, his brother Michael has also denied he killed Ms Moxley, maintaining that he was miles away at the approximate time of Moxley’s murder, watching a Monty Python TV episode with friends.
Martha Moxely, who was murdered in 1975— (AP)
No arrests have been made in connection to Ms Moxley’s murder since Mr Skakel’s release.
Mr Skakel’s lawsuit is seeking unspecified compensation and punitive damages from both the city and investigator Frank Garr, who Mr Skakel alleges had “deep antipathy” toward him and the entire Kennedy family.
The lawsuit also alleges Mr Garr was looking to profit from collaborating on a book about Mr Skakel killing Ms Moxley, and threatened witnesses so they would testify against him.
Mr Skakel suffered violations of his constitutional rights, loss of liberty from his time in prison, humiliation, embarrassment, “severe emotional distress, terror and fear,” financial loss and harm and “destruction of reputation and family relationships,” the lawsuit says.
Lawyers for Mr Garr and Greenwich have not yet filed their responses to the suit.
Mr Skakel is the nephew of Robert F. Kennedy’s widow, Ethel Kennedy.
His cousin, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., now a presidential candidate, was one of his staunchest defenders and wrote a book claiming Mr Skakel was framed.
