Connecticut

Kennedy cousin whose murder conviction was overturned sues former cop, Connecticut town – The Boston Globe

Published

2 years ago

January 2, 2024

Kennedy cousin whose murder conviction was overturned sues former cop, Connecticut town – The Boston Globe

The Connecticut Supreme Court overturned Skakel’s conviction in 2018, after he had served more than 11 years in prison, saying his defense lawyer failed to present evidence of an alibi. A state prosecutor announced in 2020 that Skakel would not be put on trial again and the murder charge was dropped.

The new lawsuit alleges the investigator, Frank Garr, was intent on getting Skakel convicted and withheld key evidence about other potential suspects from Skakel’s trial defense.

The defendants in the lawsuit “knew that there were other more likely suspects and that there was no probable cause to arrest and/or maintain a prosecution against the Plaintiff (Skakel), but continued to do so intentionally and maliciously, in order to convict a ‘Kennedy Cousin,’” the suit alleges.

The state attorney general’s office, which is defending Garr, declined to comment Tuesday. A lawyer for Greenwich did not immediately return an email message. A message also was left at a phone listing for Garr.

Skakel’s attorney, Stephan Seeger, called the lawsuit a civil rights action against Garr and the town.

“He spent 11 and a half years in jail for a crime he didn’t commit and was put through every thinkable proceeding until the case was finally dismissed,” Seeger said.

The lawsuit, filed in state court in Stamford in November, seeks unspecified damages over $15,000.

The case drew international attention because of the Kennedy name, Skakel’s rich family, numerous theories about who killed Moxley and the brutal way in which she died. Several other people, including Skakel’s brother Tommy Skakel, were mentioned as possible killers. Tommy Skakel denied involvement in the killing.

The slaying took place in the exclusive Bell Haven section of Greenwich where Martha and Skakel were neighbors. At trial, prosecutors said Skakel was angry with Martha because she had spurned his advances while having a sexual liaison with Tommy. There also was witness testimony about incriminating statements Skakel allegedly made.

Skakel’s appellate lawyers later argued that Skakel’s trial attorney, Mickey Sherman, made poor decisions, including not focusing on Tommy as a possible suspect and failing to attempt to contact an alibi witness. They said Skakel was several miles away from the crime scene, watching a Monty Python movie with friends when Moxley was killed on Oct. 30, 1975.

Sherman has defended his representation of Skakel.

There was no physical evidence and no eyewitness linking Skakel to the killing, his attorneys said.

Skakel’s cousin, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., now a presidential candidate, was one of his staunchest defenders and wrote a book saying Skakel was framed.

Skakel was first arrested in 2000, after new books about the Moxley case reignited the police investigation.

The lawsuit claims Greenwich police, prosecutors and Garr, who worked for Greenwich police before becoming an inspector with the state’s attorney’s office, withheld crucial information beneficial to Skakel from his trial defense.

The information, the suit says, included sketches of a potential suspect who did not resemble Skakel, psychological reports on other suspects and statements from witnesses who said two other men were in Moxley’s neighborhood on the night of her killing, including one who made incriminating comments.

The lawsuit also alleges Garr had “deep antipathy” toward Skakel and his family, was looking to profit from collaborating on a book about Skakel killing Moxley, and threatened witnesses so they would testify against Skakel.

Skakel suffered violations of his constitutional rights, loss of liberty from his time in prison, humiliation, embarassment, “severe emotional distress, terror and fear,” financial loss and harm and “destruction of reputation and family relationships,” the lawsuit says.

Lawyers for Garr and Greenwich have not yet filed their responses to the suit.

Moxley’s family has maintained their belief that Skakel was the killer.

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Connecticut

State police investigating suspicious incident in Burlington

Published

7 hours ago

January 8, 2026

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State police investigating suspicious incident in Burlington

BURLINGTON, Conn. (WFSB) – Connecticut State Police are investigating a suspicious incident at a residence on Case Road in Burlington.

Multiple state troopers and police vehicles were seen at the home conducting an investigation. A viewer reported seeing nine police cars and numerous troopers at the scene.

State police said there is no threat to the public at this time. The investigation is ongoing.

No additional details about the nature of the suspicious incident have been released.

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Connecticut

Ecuadorian national with manslaughter conviction sentenced for illegally reentering United States through Connecticut

Published

19 hours ago

January 8, 2026

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Ecuadorian national with manslaughter conviction sentenced for illegally reentering United States through Connecticut

NEW HAVEN, CT. (WFSB) – An Ecuadorian national with a manslaughter conviction was sentenced to 12 months and one day in prison for illegally reentering the United States through Connecticut after being deported.

40-year-old Darwin Francisco Quituizaca-Duchitanga was sentenced and had used the aliases Darwin Duchitanga-Quituizaca and Juan Mendez-Gutierrez.

U.S. Border Patrol first encountered Quituizaca in December 2003, when he used the alias Juan Mendez-Gutierrez and claimed to be a Mexican citizen. He was issued a voluntary return to Mexico.

Connecticut State Police arrested him in March 2018 on charges related to a fatal crash on I-91 in North Haven in March 2017. He was using the alias Darwin Duchitanga-Quituizaca at the time.

ICE arrested him on an administrative warrant in Meriden in August 2018 while he was awaiting trial in his state case. An immigration judge ordered his removal to Ecuador in September 2018, but he was transferred to state custody to face pending charges.

Quituizaca was convicted of second-degree manslaughter in January 2019 and sentenced to 30 months in prison.

After his release, ICE arrested him again on an administrative warrant in Meriden in August 2023. He was removed to Ecuador the next month.

ICE arrested Quituizaca again on a warrant in Meriden on June 28th, 2025, after he illegally reentered the United States. He pleaded guilty to unlawful reentry on July 30th.

He has been detained since his arrest. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigated the case.

The case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative by the Department of Justice to combat illegal immigration and transnational criminal organizations.

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Connecticut

Justice Department sues Connecticut and Arizona as part of effort to get voter data from the states

Published

1 day ago

January 7, 2026

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Justice Department sues Connecticut and Arizona as part of effort to get voter data from the states

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Officials in Connecticut and Arizona are defending their decision to refuse a request by the U.S. Justice Department for detailed voter information, after their states became the latest to face federal lawsuits over the issue.

“Pound sand,” Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes posted on X, saying the release of the voter records would violate state and federal law.

The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division announced this week it was suing Connecticut and Arizona for failing to comply with its requests, bringing to 23 the number of states the department has sued to obtain the data. It also has filed suit against the District of Columbia.

Attorney General Pam Bondi said the department will “continue filing lawsuits to protect American elections,” saying accurate voter rolls are the ”foundation of election integrity.”

Secretaries of state and state attorneys general who have pushed back against the effort say it violates federal privacy law, which protects the sharing of individual data with the government, and would run afoul of their own state laws that restrict what voter information can be released publicly. Some of the data the Justice Department is seeking includes names, dates of birth, residential addresses, driver’s license numbers and partial Social Security numbers.

Other requests included basic questions about the procedures states use to comply with federal voting laws, while some have been more state-specific. They have referenced perceived inconsistencies from a survey from the U.S. Election Assistance Commission.

Most of the lawsuits target states led by Democrats, who have said they have been unable to get a firm answer about why the Justice Department wants the information and how it plans to use it. Last fall, 10 Democratic secretaries of state sent a letter to the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security expressing concern after DHS said it had received voter data and would enter it into a federal program used to verify citizenship status.

Connecticut Attorney General William Tong, a Democrat, said his state had tried to “work cooperatively” with the Justice Department to understand the basis for its request for voters’ personal information.

“Rather than communicating productively with us, they rushed to sue,” Tong said Tuesday, after the lawsuit was filed.

Connecticut, he said, “takes its obligations under federal laws very seriously.” He pledged to “vigorously defend the state against this meritless and deeply disappointing lawsuit.”

Two Republican state senators in Connecticut said they welcomed the federal lawsuit. They said a recent absentee ballot scandal in the state’s largest city, Bridgeport, had made the state a “national punchline.”

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