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Skakel effort to dismiss murder case rejected

Michael Skakel

STAMFORD, Connecticut (CNN) -- A superior court judge Tuesday denied a motion by Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel to dismiss his case in the 1975 murder of Martha Moxley on the basis of statute of limitations.

In his 10-page decision, Judge John Kavenewsky wrote he was not persuaded that the statute of limitations in effect at the time of the killing bars Skakel from being prosecuted.

The statute limited the length of time prosecutors had to bring any charge not punishable by death. Connecticut did not have the death penalty at the time of the murder.

The law was repealed by the Connecticut legislature in 1976.

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"The correct analysis of the issue presented gives great regard to the gravity of the offense charged, not solely its punishment," Kavenewsky wrote.

"Connecticut precedents show that the gravity of the offense charged here, the crime of murder, has been historically unquestioned."

The judge scheduled a chambers conference with both sides in the case in Norwalk December 19 to determine a trial date.

"I always believed [the statute of limitations] was a viable issue, but I appreciate how difficult it would be for the judge to dismiss the case on what people would perceive to be a technicality," said Michael Sherman, Skakel's attorney.

Martha Moxley

Skakel, 41, was arrested in January 2000 for the 1975 murder of Moxley when they were both 15 years old and neighbors. Moxley was found bludgeoned to death with a golf club outside her home in an affluent Greenwich community.

Skakel was originally charged as a juvenile. But on January 31, Judge Maureen Dennis ruled the case should be transferred to adult court because, she said, there were no juvenile facilities available in Connecticut to accommodate a middle-age defendant.

The Connecticut State supreme Court upheld the decision in September.