Prosecutors: No retrial for suspect in Martha Moxley murder
STAMFORD, Conn. — For nearly half a century, Martha Moxley’s murder fed the tabloids: A 15-year old girl is clubbed to death outside her home in a posh, Greenwich community. A teenage boy across the street, a relative of the famous Kennedy family, is a suspect. Decades of legal battles follow, with glimpses of country club life and dark questions about influence, money and justice.
But the final twist, in a case that has been full of them, may have occurred Friday, exactly 45 years from the day Moxley was killed.
Chief State’s Attorney Richard Colangelo told a Superior Court judge Friday morning he has decided not to retry Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel, whose 2002 conviction for murdering Moxley was reversed two years ago by the state Supreme Court. Colangelo said the passage of time and, in particular, the death of prosecution witnesses, has left the state unable to proceed.
“I believe the state cannot prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt, therefore the state is going to enter a nolle,” Colangelo, who was 9 years old at the time of the murder, told Superior Court Judge Gary White during a short, scripted hearing.
The nolle will result in dismissal of the murder charge against Skakel in 13 months. In practical terms, it means a notorious murder that generated books, movies, television shows and tens of thousands of newspaper and magazine articles probably will remain unsolved.
After reviewing the voluminous case file — the investigation generated thousands of police reports and it was before the state’s high court five times — Colangelo said he identified 51 potential prosecution witnesses, but found out 17 had died since the original trial.
A search for new evidence turned up empty, he said.
Throughout the process Colangelo said he stayed in touch with the Moxley family and “have tried my best to keep them informed of my findings and what my decision is.