A judge has ordered attorneys for Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel, convicted of a 1975 murder of a Greenwich teenager, to identify two men implicated in the killing by a cousin of basketball star Kobe Bryant.
Skakel, a nephew of Ethel Kennedy, is seeking a new trial based on a claim by Gitano "Tony" Bryant that two of his friends killed 15-year-old Martha Moxley. The petition for a new trial, filed in Stamford Superior Court, is separate from an appeal Skakel lost in January before the Connecticut Supreme Court.
"We think it's appropriate that the names be known to us at this point," prosecutor Susann Gill said Friday. "It will help us prepare and respond to the allegations."
Prosecutors last year sought the identities and whereabouts of the two men, identified only as "A" and "B" in court papers, so they can respond to the claim and prepare their case.
Skakel's attorneys, Hope Seeley and Hubert Santos, have said they were not required to identify the men or provide other details sought by prosecutors at this stage. They said prosecutors are able to respond to the petition without the information.
Superior Court Judge Edward Karazin ruled Tuesday that Skakel's defense must provide the names of the two men to prosecutors by April 17.
A telephone message was left for Seeley Friday.
Bryant's allegation surfaced in 2003, a year after Skakel was convicted of bludgeoning Moxley with a golf club in their gated neighborhood in Greenwich when they were both 15. Skakel, 45, is serving 20 years to life in prison.
