Skakel to appear at sentencing this week for 1975 murder

NORWALK, Conn. – There was a time when Dorthy Moxley wondered if Michael Skakel would ever serve time in prison for the 1975 murder of her daughter.

Skakel, a nephew of Ethel Kennedy, once bragged that he was “a Kennedy” and would “get away with murder,” according to a classmate. He didn’t.

Skakel, 41, was convicted in June of beating Martha Moxley to death with a golf club in wealthy Greenwich when they were 15-year-old neighbors. The troubled teen who grew up in a gated community now spends his days behind prison bars. His sentencing is scheduled for Wednesday; defense lawyers already are planning appeals.

“At one time in my life just seeing him in jail one day would have made me happy,” Moxley, who waged a quarter-century campaign to bring her daughter’s killer to justice, said last week. “I would like to see him spend the rest of his life in prison.”

Skakel’s minimum sentence is 10 years to life, while the maximum is 25 years to life.

The minimum amount of prison time Skakel actually must serve could be slashed nearly in half, based on sentencing rules in effect in 1975 that allowed time off for good behavior. Those guidelines since have been abolished.

Skakel also will be eligible for parole, something not available in murder cases since 1981.