Skakel faces life in jail for murder

SENTENCING proceedings began yesterday for Kennedy family relative Michael Skakel, who faces a possible life in prison for the 1975 murder of his teenaged neighbour Martha Moxley.

Skakel, 41, was convicted in June of the murder of Martha Moxley, bringing to a close a quarter-century-old case of the 15-year-old girl bludgeoned to death on the lawn of her family's home in Greenwich, Connecticut.

A nephew of Ethel Kennedy, widow of the late Senator Robert F Kennedy, Skakel faces a minimum possible sentence of 10 years to life and a maximum of 25 years to life in prison.

“I think he needs to be in jail for life,” Dorthy Moxley, the victim’s mother who led a long campaign to find her daughter’s killer, said before the hearing. Skakel, who has been held in a nearby jail, entered the crowded courtroom clad in a blue business suit and handcuffs.

His face ashen, he winced with pain from his restraints as he shuffled in.

Skakel family members stood en masse as he arrived and called out “God Bless You, Michael.”

Defence attorneys planned to seek leniency on grounds that Skakel was 15 when the crime was committed, but they declined to go into specifics before the hearing.

It was unclear whether Skakel, who says he’s innocent, would speak, said Skakel family attorney Emmanuel Margolis. State Superior Court Judge John Kavenewsky will sentence Skakel under state law in effect at the time of murder.