KENNEDY cousin MICHAEL SKAKEL gets OK to hit the slopes and hide his GPS while awaiting retrial in brutal 1975 murder of 15 year old girl.
As THE ENQUIRER previously reported Skakel, 53, the nephew of Robert F. Kennedy's widow, Ethel, had been in prison more than 11 years after being convicted of murder. In October, 2013 a judge ruled Skakel's trial attorney failed to adequately represent him in 2002 when he was convicted in the brutal slaying of Martha Moxley who was bludgeoned to death with a golf club in a posh Connecticut suburb Greenwich when they were both 15.
State prosecutors are still appealing the ruling granting him a new trial.
But now, Skakel, has received approval to have a GPS tracking device temporarily relocated from his ankle while he attends his son's ski competition.
In court papers, his attorney said that during an earlier ski competition this month, Skakel was unable to accompany his son up the mountain with other parents because his GPS-attached ankle bracelet couldn't fit in this ski boot with the bracelet,.
The lawyers say he was forced to hike up the mountain alone, taking two to three hours and gave him an asthma attack.
"Thankfully, the defendant had his inhaler, otherwise very serious consequences could have resulted while he was alone on a mountain," Skakel's attorneys wrote.
By the time he reached the summit, Skakel, his attorneys claim, received a message from the GPS monitoring company that he needed to return to the ski lodge to charge it.
"As a result, the defendant spent the vast majority of his time away from his son, rather than supporting and coaching him, even after having charged the device for the entire previous night and for one hour prior to scaling the mountain," his attorneys wrote.
Skakel received approval to have probation officials relocate the bracelet someplace else on his person later this month his body later this month so he can ski with his son, who is competing in high school championships.
His retrial for murder had not yet been docketed.
