No new trial for Michael Skakel

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) - The Connecticut Supreme Court rejected an appeal by Michael Skakel for a new trial in the 1975 slaying of his 15-year-old Greenwich neighbor Martha Moxley.

In short, the majority of the justices have said new evidence claims made by Skakel's legal team wasn't enough to bring about a new trial.

Skakel was sentenced to prison after a jury found him guilty of the 1975 murder of Moxley by using a family golf club to beat her to death.

The crime remained unsolved for years. Two decades later Skakel was arrested put on trial. He was convicted in 2002. He launched his appeal in 2007, claiming he was wrongly convicted.

Skakel's appeal centered on a videotaped interview that Gitano "Tony" Bryant gave to an investigator claiming two of his friends admitted to being in Greenwich the night of the killing and going caveman on a local girl.

A judge didn't buy it and rejected the appeal.

The state Supreme Court said while the tape may have been admissible it didn't meet the standard of compelling enough to result in an acquittal. It's not enough that it might cause some jurors to have reasonable doubt.

There was one dissenting opinion.

This means Skakel, who is 49, remains behind bars at MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution serving a twenty years to life sentence.

There was no comment Monday from

In a statement issue Monday afternoon, Attorney Hubert Santos, who represented Skakel in the appeal to the State Supreme Court, said he was disappointed in the decision.

"The jury that convicted Michael Skakel in 2002 simply did not have all of the avidence," Santos said. "It is a travesty that the Connecticut courts continue to deny Mr. Skakel's request that the new information be examined and considered by a jury. Fairness and justice require no less."

Santos said the appeals on behalf of Skakel are not over.