Alaina Kelley

Mark Furman praised the jury.

He said they were attentive.

They gave away nothing.

They made no mistakes.

Even when I talked to them, they said they were of one mind very early on that he was guilty.

Now, in late August, Skakel went back to the Norwalk court for sentencing, and when asked whether he had anything to say for himself, Skakel went on the offensive.

He attacked his accusers and repeatedly professed his innocence.

Before passing sentence, Judge John Kavanuski's address to the court was...

Pretty broad, just saying, for the last 25 years or more, a period well into his adult life, the defendant has been living a lie about his guilt.

Most importantly, this defendant has accepted no responsibility.

He has expressed no personal remorse to this present day.

All of this persuades me to impose a sentence which, on balance, is substantial.

And with that, he sentenced Skakel to 20 years to life to be served at the Garner Correctional Institution in Newtown, Connecticut.

Now, his appeals began almost immediately after the sentence.

In 2004, the Connecticut Supreme Court heard his claims that, among other things, his constitutional rights were violated when the state prosecuted him for a crime in which the statute of limitations had expired.

The argument depended largely on Skakel having been underage when the murder was committed and the judge in juvenile court had erred in transferring the case to criminal court.

In their conclusion, the justices upheld the lower court's ruling, noting if the trial court erred in their actions, the defendant has not established harm.

So they just kept it.

They were like, no.

Now, in subsequent appeals, Skakel's defense team made a number of claims of improper conduct, from claims of prosecutorial misconduct to the credibility of witness testimony and beyond.