The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Skakel case timeline
Oct. 30, 1975: Greenwich teenager Martha Moxley is beaten to death with a golf club, later traced to a set of clubs owned by Michael Skakel's late mother. Moxley's battered body is found Oct. 31 under a tree on her family's estate. The case remains unsolved for 25 years and is the subject of several books.
Aug. 9, 1991: Then-State's Attorney Donald Browneannounces a reinvestigation of the case that had gone unsolved for more than 15 years. The new probe follows publication of a Greenwich Time story based on more than 100 interviews and police documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.
June 17, 1998: Prosecutors announce that a one-judge grand jury will investigate the murder.
Aug. 4, 1998: Former Skakel family live-in tutor Kenneth Littleton is compelled to testify before grand jury. Littleton, an early suspect, receives "blanket" immunity from prosecution, except for perjury, because he was ordered to testify.
Dec. 7, 1999: Grand jury investigation ends after testimony from more than 40 witnesses.
Jan. 18, 2000: Arrest warrant issued for Skakel.
Jan. 19, 2000: Skakel surrenders to police and is charged with murder. He is charged as a juvenile because he was 15 at the time of the murder. He is released on $500,000 bond after the grand jury finds evidence for an arrest.
Feb. 8, 2000: Skakel's arraignment in juvenile court is delayed while a judge considers whether to open proceedings to the media.
March 10, 2000: Judge Maureen Dennisdecides Skakel's arraignment will be open.
March 14, 2000: Skakel is arraigned. He approaches the victim's mother in court and tells her, "You've got the wrong guy."
Jan. 31, 2001: Judge Maureen Dennis rules that Skakel should be tried as an adult and orders the case transferred to state Superior Court. If convicted, he could face 10 years to life in prison.
Aug. 15, 2001: Defense lawyer Michael Shermansays Skakel will offer alibi for night of murder.
Nov. 19, 2001: State Supreme Court dismisses appeal of decision transferring case to Superior Court, saying the issue cannot be appealed until the trial ends.
Dec. 11, 2001: Superior Court Judge John Kavanewsky Jr. rejects defense argument that a statute of limitations applies to the case.
Feb. 21, 2002: Trial moved from Stamford to Norwalk because new courthouse in Stamford will not be ready in time.
April 2, 2002: Selection begins for 12 jurors and four alternates.
May 7, 2002: Testimony begins.
May 21, 2002: Prosecution rests.
May 28, 2002: Defense rests.
June 3, 2002: Closing arguments.
June 7, 2002: Skakel convicted.
Aug. 29, 2002: Skakel sentenced to 20 years to life in prison.
Jan. 14, 2005: State Supreme Court hears arguments to appeal the verdict on grounds prosecutors failed to turn over crucial evidence.
Aug. 29, 2005: Skakel's defense team files a petition for a new trial.
Jan. 13, 2006: State Supreme Court unanimously upholds the murder conviction.
Feb. 15, 2006: Skakel's defense team files a motion asking the state Supreme Court to re-hear arguments in his murder appeal.
March 21, 2006: State Supreme Court denies request to re-hear appeal. Skakel's defense announces plan to appeal to U.S. Supreme Court.
May 16, 2006: Skakel and his family hire Theodore Olson to petition the U.S. Supreme Court.
July 12, 2006: Petition is filed with U.S. Supreme Court asserting that Skakel's due process rights were violated by the state Supreme Court decision.
Oct. 14, 2006: Prosecutors file a brief before the U.S. Supreme Court asking the justices to reject Skakel's quest to be set free, arguing that his due process rights were not violated.
Oct. 20, 2006: Skakel attorneys file a brief before the U.S. Supreme Court arguing that Connecticut judges ignored a five-year limit that would have prevented trying Skakel for murder after 1980. Connecticut Criminal Defense Lawyer's Association files an amicus brief saying Skakel's arrest 25 years after the murder hindered his ability to gather evidence to defend himself and violated precedents in Connecticut and other states.
Oct. 23, 2006: Skakel attorney Hubert Santos says the book "Conviction" by Newsday reporter Leonard Levitt involved an unusual arrangement with state investigator Frank Garr, which raised questions about the impartiality of the investigation.
Oct. 30, 2006: Levitt says he and Garr made a financial agreement after Skakel was convicted.
Nov. 13, 2006: U.S. Supreme Court rejects Skakel's request to review conviction.
July 16, 2007: Lawyers for Skakel file final briefs in quest to get him anew trial based on theory that others in Belle Haven on Oct. 30, 2015 Tinsley killed Moxley.
Oct. 25, 2007: Judge Edward Karazin Jr. denies Skakel's bid for a new trial, a decision that Skakel's lawyer later appeals to the state Supreme Court.
March 26, 2009: Five-judge panel of the state Supreme Court hears arguments on the appeal.
April 12, 2010: State Supreme Court denies Skakel a new trial, in a 4-1 ruling.
September 2010: Lawyers for Skakel file new appeal on the basis that Sherman did not give him an adequate defense.
Jan. 24, 2012: Skakel and his attorneys argue for a sentence reduction, claiming he should have been tried in juvenile court. Skakel addressed the court, saying, "I didn't commit this crime."
March 5, 2012: A three-judge panel rejects Skakel's request for a reduction in his 20-years-to-life prison sentence. April 2012: Skakel, who is imprisoned at the MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution in Suffield, is eligible for a parole hearing. Oct. 24, 2012: Skakel is denied parole.
Feb. 14, 2013: Attorneys on both sides of the case argue before a judge for and against allowing an appeal based on Sherman's defense to proceed.
March 5, 2013: Judge allows the appeal to proceed.
March 2013: Appeal papers filed by Skakel's attorneys implicate his older brother Thomas, who had been a suspect before Michael, in the murder.
April 2013: During the final two weeks of the month, attorneys argue over the merits of Skakel's trial defense in state Superior Court in Rockville, 15 miles from where Skakel has spent the last 11 years incarcerated at the MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institute.
Oct. 23, 2013: Judge Thomas Bishop rules in favor of Skakel in the appeal, granting him a new trial in Martha Moxley's murder.
August 2014: Prosecutors appeal the court's granting Skakel a new trial.
December 2016: A divided Connecticut Supreme Court reinstates Skakel's murder conviction in the 1975 killing of Martha Moxley, rejecting a lower court ruling in an appeal that his trial lawyer didn't adequately represent him.
May 2018: The long and convoluted path of the State of Connecticut vs. Michael Skakel takes another dramatic turn, when the state’s highest court reverses its own decision and negates his murder conviction, allowing him to remain free.
October 2020: John Moxley, Martha’s brother, says the family has been told the state will not retry Michael Skakel.