Judge vacates Kennedy cousin’s murder conviction
HARTFORD, Conn.— In a stunning reversal, the Connecticut Supreme Court on Friday vacated Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel’s murder conviction and ordered a new trial in connection with a 1975 killing in wealthy Greenwich.
The court issued a 4- 3 ruling Friday that Skakel’s trial attorney, Michael Sherman, failed to present evidence of an alibi. The decision reversed the high court’s previous ruling in December 2016 that reinstated Skakel’s conviction after a lower court ordered a new trial, citing mistakes by Sherman.
Skakel, a nephew of Robert F. Kennedy’s widow, Ethel Kennedy, was convicted in 2002 in the bludgeoning death of Martha Moxley in their wealthy Greenwich neighborhood in 1975, when they were teenagers.
Google to verify, disclose identities of U. S. political ad buyers
SAN FRANCISCO— Google says it will do a better job of verifying the identity of political ad buyers in the U. S. by requiring a copy of a government- issued ID and other information. Google will also require the disclosure of who is paying for the ad.
More arrests expected in sex slave case involving ‘ Smallville’ actress
NEWYORK— A prosecutor says that more people will be charged in the criminal investigation of a cult- like group that included former “Smallville” actress Allison Mack.
At a court hearing on Friday, Assistant U. S. Attorney Moira Penza told a judge that the government plans to file a new indictment naming more defendants.
Mack appeared at the hearing along with Keith Raniere, the leader of the group NXIVM. Both are charged with coercing women who joined the organization into becoming sex slaves.
Some of the women were branded with a symbol that prosecutors said contained Raniere’s initials.
Mack and Raniere have pleaded not guilty.