Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel sues lead investigator and Connecticut town years after his murder conviction was overturned
Michael Skakel is shown in 2012 as his bid for parole was denied at McDougall-Walker Correctional Institution in Suffield
(CNN) — Michael Skakel, whose murder conviction in the 1975 death of a teenager in Connecticut was overturned, has filed lawsuits against the lead police investigator in the case and the town of Greenwich alleging malicious prosecution, violation of his constitutional rights and other claims, according to court documents.
Skakel, a nephew of Ethel and Robert F. Kennedy, was convicted of murder in 2002 in the brutal slaying of 15-year-old Martha Moxley, but his conviction was vacated in 2018 by the Connecticut Supreme Court, which ruled that his attorney had deprived him of a fair trial by failing to identify an alibi witness. In 2020, prosecutors for the state of Connecticut said they would not retry Skakel in Moxley’s death.
“Michael spent over 11 years in jail for a crime he didn’t commit. The time and the relationships – his life as he knew it – cannot be returned to him,” Skakel’s attorney, Stephan Seeger, told CNN Wednesday. “Like other wrongfully convicted persons recourse is limited to the judicial system.”
Moxley went missing on October 30, 1975, after a night of partying with Skakel, his older brother and other teenagers in an affluent gated community in Greenwich, Connecticut. The next day Moxley was found bludgeoned and stabbed to death, and a broken golf club was found near her body.
Skakel, who also was 15 at the time, was a suspect for years but did not go to trial until 2002, when he was convicted and sentenced to 20 years to life in prison. He served more than half of the sentence before being released from prison on bond in 2013 during an appeal process.
Skakel’s lawsuits now detail, among other things, allegations of missing audiotapes and claims that witnesses were threatened and evidence was withheld from trial attorneys.
The Connecticut State Attorney’s Office, which is representing the lead investigator, said it has no comment on the legal action. CNN has sought comment from attorneys for the town of Greenwich.
One suit involves missing audiotapes
The first lawsuit, filed in April 2023, involves a set of audiotapes and materials from Skakel that were used against him in the murder trial, according to court records.
In July, the town of Greenwich filed a response to the lawsuit denying many of Skakel’s allegations and arguing that his claims are barred by governmental immunity, among other defenses. The court also ordered Skakel to file a revised complaint by December 21.
The revised complaint alleges the lead investigator in the case, Frank Garr, and the Greenwich Police Department maintained custody of all evidence collected in connection with the investigation of Moxley’s death.
Before he was charged, Skakel had contracted writer Richard Hoffman to pen a book accounting for Skakel’s version of events, “including events concerning the evening of Martha Moxley’s death,” the suit says, citing testimony from Garr.
Discussions between the two were recorded on several microcassette tapes, the suit says.
Garr then “falsely represented that he had a warrant for materials related to Michael Skakel’s book, seized such materials from Mr. Hoffman absent lawful authority, valid consent and/or probable cause to do so,” the complaint states.
“The defendants, without lawful excuse, privilege, justification, or statutory authority, engaged in conduct, against the plaintiff’s will, and without consent, which resulted in an unlawful and wrongful taking, and/or conversion of the plaintiff’s” property, the revised complaint states.
Garr “assumed possession” of the tapes and “either kept the tapes personally or transferred possession” to Greenwich police, the suit claims.
Skakel was charged in 2000, and during his trial “portions of one tape made in connection with the writing of the Plaintiff’s book were played” and used in the prosecution’s closing arguments “as part of a misleading multimedia display” to jurors, the suit claims.
In 2021, police and prosecutors indicated a search for the tapes proved fruitless, and the current whereabouts of the tapes are unknown, the suit says.
The defendants’ actions “constituted a major interference with plaintiff’s rights” to personal property “and/or proprietary information,” the suit reads.
“By reason of the defendants’ willful, reckless, malicious, and oppressive conduct, and by virtue of the defendant’s wanton violation of the plaintiff’s rights, the plaintiff is entitled to punitive and exemplary damages, in connection with the allegations of this complaint,” the complaint states.
Second lawsuit accuses authorities of withholding evidence
Another lawsuit, filed in November in Connecticut state court by Skakel seeking compensatory and punitive damages, cites acts and omissions made “maliciously, intentionally and willfully,” according to court documents.
“The pleadings in our case detail claims and issues that have never really came to light – never really formed part of the narrative against the backdrop of the much more sensational ‘Kennedy Cousin’ moniker,” Seeger said. “There is a different story that underlies the lawsuit – and now a court in a civil proceeding with different standards of proof is being called upon to right an injustice that took Michael’s freedom and family away from him unjustly.”
Garr, the investigator, threatened witnesses when gathering their statements “in an effort to bring about the conviction” of Skakel, the second lawsuit alleges.
The suit also alleges Garr was attempting to profit from a book and movie deal about Skakel’s involvement in Moxley’s murder while he was the lead investigator in the case.
The November lawsuit claims authorities also had “defense favorable” evidence before the trial, including a sketch that did not resemble Skakel, but “strongly resembled” another suspect, as well as psychological reports of the other prospective suspects who produced failed and inconclusive lie detector results, and statements from witnesses who claimed two other men were near the killing scene on the night of her death.
This evidence was “intentionally withheld from (Skakel) and his trial attorneys,” the suit alleges.
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CNN’s Hayley Wilson contributed to this report.
