Skakel Case in Conn. Supreme Court

By JOHN CHRISTOFFERSEN Associated Press Writer

September 25, 2001, 5:56 AM EDT

HARTFORD, Conn. -- The legal battle over whether Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel should be tried for murder as an adult or a juvenile has landed in the Connecticut Supreme Court.

Justices were to hear arguments Tuesday on Skakel's appeal of a lower court decision that transferred his murder case from juvenile to adult court.

Skakel, a nephew of the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, is charged with the 1975 murder of Martha Moxley, a neighbor who was beaten to death with a golf club. Skakel and Moxley were 15 at the time.

Skakel was initially charged as a juvenile because of his age at the time of the slaying.

But Judge Maureen Dennis ruled in January that adult court was the proper venue for the trial, in part because the state has no juvenile facility where it could send Skakel, now 41, if he is convicted.

As a juvenile, the maximum penalty Skakel could receive under the law in effect in 1975 is four years. As an adult, he could be sentenced to 10 years to life in prison.

Michael Sherman, Skakel's defense attorney, said Monday that juvenile courts have placed defendants with special needs out of state when necessary.

"I've always found it difficult to believe the state of Connecticut couldn't be a little bit creative in finding a facility to house a 41-year-old man," Sherman said.

Prosecutor Jonathan Benedict had said he would consider dropping the case if Skakel was tried as a juvenile. He said Skakel would face such a small penalty in juvenile court that it would not be worth the trauma to Moxley's family.

Benedict did not return telephone messages left at his office Monday.

No date has been set for Skakel's trial.

Skakel also has a motion pending before Superior Court to dismiss the case based on a statute of limitations.

Copyright © 2001, The Associated Press

-- Anonymous, September 25, 2001