Skakel Appeals to Supreme Court
With none other than former Solicitor General Ted Olson as his new lawyer, Michael Skakel is asking the Supreme Court to take his case and overturn his conviction for murdering 15 year old Martha Moxley. At the time of the crime in 1975, Connecticut had a 5 year statute of limitations on murders that were not capital murders. It eliminated the statute of limitations on all murders in 1976. But Skakel wasn't charged with capital murder, and he wasn't charged until 2000, by which time the five year period had long expired.
Skakel's trial lawyer, Mickey Sherman, raised the argument in the trial court and was turned down. His brief is here. After Skakel was convicted at trial, his appellate lawyers took the issue up to the Connecticut Supremem Court, where they were turned down. But, in turning Skakel down, the court had to overrule its own precedent -- earlier decisions that would have required them to rule in Skakel's favor.
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