Kennedy cousin testifies in latest bid to overturn murder conviction

(Reuters) - Imprisoned Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel took the stand in a Connecticut courtroom on Thursday in his latest bid to have his murder conviction for the 1975 killing of a Greenwich teenager thrown out, according to news reports.

Skakel's testimony came during a wrongful imprisonment trial in Vernon, Connecticut, before a state judge, who will decide whether to grant him a new trial on the grounds that his previous defense attorney, Mickey Sherman, did not competently defend him.

Skakel, 52, testified on Thursday that Sherman called himself a "media whore," signed autographs outside of court, and ignored Skakel's trial strategy suggestions - which included putting Skakel himself on the witness stand, the Hartford Courant newspaper reported on Thursday.

"I was flabbergasted by his nonchalant attitude," Skakel said during questioning by his new attorney, Hubert Santos.

Skakel is the nephew of Ethel Skakel Kennedy, widow of the late U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy.

Skakel is serving 20 years to life in prison for the bludgeoning death of 15-year-old Martha Moxley, his neighbor in Greenwich, Connecticut. He was convicted in 2002.

Skakel testified that prior to the murder trial, Sherman promised him that the case would be dismissed before trial.

Skakel said Sherman's then-girlfriend, who was present, warned Sherman not to make such grand promises, the Greenwich Time newspaper reported.

"Don't listen to her," Skakel said Sherman replied. "She doesn't know what she's talking about. You'll never see the inside of a courtroom."

Sherman - who was sitting in the gallery during the testimony, the Courant reported - could not be reached for comment.

Connecticut's state Supreme Court has upheld Skakel's conviction, and the U.S. Supreme Court has declined to review the case, according to the newspaper.

On October 30, 1975, Moxley attended a Halloween party in the prosperous neighborhood where both her family and the Skakel family lived. Her body was discovered the next morning in her backyard. Skakel's testimony was expected to continue after a lunch break.

(Reporting by Chris Francescani in New York; editing by Scott Malone and Matthew Lewis)

View the original article here

Texas man found guilty in wrongful conviction case

SAN ANGELO, Texas (AP) — A West Texas jury on Wednesday convicted a man for the murder of an Austin woman whose husband was wrongfully convicted of her slaying and spent nearly 25 years in prison before being exonerated.

Jurors in San Angelo found Mark Alan Norwood guilty of capital murder for the 1986 killing of Christine Morton, who was attacked in her north Austin home. Prosecutors said Norwood beat the woman to death.

He was sentenced to life in prison, but is eligible for parole after 15 years. Jurors deliberated for about three hours before returning their verdict.

Morton's husband, Michael, was initially convicted in her death in 1987, but he was exonerated and freed in 2011 after new DNA testing was done on a bloody bandanna found near the couple's home. Investigators said the DNA evidence led them to Norwood, whose DNA was in a national database as a result of his long criminal history.

Michael Morton hugged Norwood's mother outside the courtroom after the trial. He also hugged Norwood's brother, Dale.

Morton told the Austin American-Statesman that what he was feeling was "a mixed bag. It's not a celebration, and it's not a happy day."

"Michael and his family are pleased that justice, at last, has been provided for the memory of Christine Morton," John Raley, Morton's Houston-based attorney, said in an email. Raley spent years working for free on the case after teaming up with the Innocence Project.

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, whose office handled Norwood's prosecution, said no verdict can bring back Christine Morton's life or "recover the devastating years that her husband Michael Morton spent unjustly imprisoned for her murder."

"We can only hope that today's verdict provides some much-deserved, but woefully delayed justice for a family that suffered so terribly for so long," Abbott said in a statement.

Norwood's sister, Connie Hoff, said her brother had been railroaded because prosecutors had introduced evidence from the 1988 death of Debra Masters Baker in Austin during the trial. Norwood, 58, also has been charged with capital murder in the death of Baker, who lived near the Mortons.

Hoff said her family is now going through what the Morton family went through when he was convicted.

"This is history repeating itself," she told the American-Statesman.

During closing arguments earlier Wednesday, prosecutor Lisa Tanner told jurors they need to convict Norwood "and not let evil walk out of this room with you."

One of Norwood's lawyers, Ariel Payan, suggested to jurors during closing arguments that the evidence gathered from the bandanna was contaminated.

DNA testing wasn't available when the blood on the bandanna was initially tested in 1986. The testing wasn't done until Michael Morton's attorneys spent years lobbying for it.

Prosecutors also told jurors that a gun Norwood stole from the Mortons' home and later sold linked him to the murder. Morton testified at the trial, telling jurors about the missing gun.

The trial was held in San Angelo after being moved from Williamson County, near Austin, because of publicity in the case. The Texas Attorney General's Office was not seeking the death penalty.

Last month, a special hearing known as a court of inquiry was held to examine whether state District Judge Ken Anderson acted improperly in 1987 when, as Williamson County district attorney, he prosecuted Michael Morton. Morton's lawyers have accused Anderson of intentionally hiding evidence.

Anderson has denied any wrongdoing. A decision by a judge on whether Anderson should face criminal charges in the case might come next month. Anderson also is being sued by the State Bar of Texas for his conduct in the Morton case.

View the original article here