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Kennedy Cousin Asks U.S. Supreme Court to Not Hear State's Appeal

Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to refuse to hear Connecticut prosecutors' arguments that his murder conviction should be reinstated.

Skakel's lawyer filed the request Monday. 

Connecticut prosecutors asked the court in August to hear their appeal. They say the Connecticut Supreme Court was wrong to vacate Skakel's conviction in the 1975 bludgeoning death of Martha Moxley in their wealthy Greenwich neighborhood in 1975, when they were teenagers.

The state court said Skakel's trial lawyer failed to contact a key alibi witness. Prosecutors argue the lawyer's overall performance wasn't properly weighed.

Skakel, a nephew of Robert F. Kennedy's widow, Ethel Kennedy, was convicted in 2002 and sentenced to 20 years to life in prison. He was freed in 2013 when a state judge overturned his conviction.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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