Posted on 11/14/2006 9:46:02 AM PST by Graybeard58
WASHINGTON -- Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel lost a longshot effort to win reversal of his murder conviction when the Supreme Court on Monday declined to take his case.
The justices refused, without comment, to review Skakel's conviction in the beating death of Martha Moxley, his neighbor in Greenwich, Conn., 31 years ago when the two were teenagers. Skakel, 46, a nephew of Ethel Kennedy, was convicted in 2002.
He is serving 20 years to life in prison. Skakel's lawyer had argued that the deadline for prosecuting the crime expired before his client was arrested in January 2000.
At the time of Moxley's killing, Connecticut had a five-year statute of limitations on murder cases that did not involve the death penalty. One year later, in 1976, the legislature removed the five-year deadline.
The Connecticut Supreme Court upheld Skakel's conviction, ruling that the legislature intended to remove the deadline for prosecution for all crimes, like Moxley's killing, for which the statute of limitations had not yet expired. That ruling now stands.
Fuhrman's revenge, one might say.
I cant imagine that life is easy for a spoiled, fat, rich kid in the joint. Unless he is paying for protection, the mainline cons would eat him alive..
The Kennedy family will take very good care of anyone who helps their family.
Why would Ted Olson stoop to taking this case? One would think that he could have a luxury of choosing and picking what to get involved in.
$$$$$ cha-ching!
Unless he has to deal with Bennett-like gambling losses, a successful attorney of Ted Olson's caliber is a multimillionaire several times over [even a lesser being like John Edwards is] - and thus does not have to pick any case he wouldn't like. Thus "$$$$$ cha-ching" would have less appeal then on some lesser, and more hungry, lawyer.
then=than
I do not know why he took it - in my post I expressed my amazement at the fact, for Olson is sufficiently prominent and not so hungry as to have to take it. I would like to think better of him than "because of the establishment class solidarity".
Ted will have to argue before the Supremes next over legislative intent/statute of limitations, that is if he takes it up the chain, but he'd better be careful. All his money won't help him if his stellar reputation is ruined over the likes of Michael Skakel and the way he brutally murdered that poor girl. Skakel is still a danger to society and needs to be locked up until his dying day.
If, just if, Ted has his eye on politics he can pick a better case than this one. It is not worth risking one's legal career over, Skakel/Kennedy family promises to the contrary.
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