NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel, who was released from prison last year after he was granted a new trial in the 1975 slaying of a neighbor, has received approval to have a GPS tracking device temporarily relocated from his ankle so he can ski alongside and support his son, who is competing in high school ski competitions.

During an earlier competition this month, Skakel was unable to accompany his son up the mountain because his ankle couldn’t fit in the ski boot with the bracelet, his attorneys said in court papers. As a result, they said he was required to hike up the mountain alone, which took two to three hours and induced an asthma attack.

“The defendant would like to be able to provide his son with the proper parental support and coaching during these competitions without inducing another asthma attack or a more serious condition,”‘ Skakel’s attorneys wrote.

Skakel, the 53-year-old nephew of Robert F. Kennedy’s widow, Ethel, had been in prison more than 11 years on a sentence of 20 years to life. A judge ruled in October that Skakel’s trial attorney failed to adequately represent him in 2002 when he was convicted in Martha Moxley’s bludgeoning with a golf club in wealthy Greenwich when they were both 15.


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