NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — A bond hearing has been scheduled for next week for Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel as he awaits a new trial in the 1975 slaying of neighbor Martha Moxley, a prosecutor said Wednesday.
Prosecutors decided not to appeal a ruling last week that lifted a stay in the case, prosecutor Susann Gill said.
The Nov. 21 hearing at Stamford Superior Court is expected to focus on the terms and conditions of Skakel's release from prison.
Judge Thomas Bishop ruled last month that Skakel's trial attorney failed to adequately represent him in 2002 when he was convicted in Moxley's golf club bludgeoning. Bishop lifted a stay of his ruling last week, saying he didn't believe Skakel should be required to stay in prison for months or years while his ruling granting a new trial is appealed.
Gill said prosecutors evaluated the case before deciding not to appeal the judge's decision.
"We gave it some thought and decided it wasn't advisable at this point," Gill said.
Skakel, the 53-year-old nephew of Robert F. Kennedy's widow, Ethel Kennedy, has been serving 20 years to life. Skakel and Moxley were 15-year-old neighbors in wealthy Greenwich at the time of her death.