Skakel Trial Timeline

The following are key events in the trial of Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel, who was convicted of murder:

-- Oct. 31, 1975: Martha Moxley, 15, is found beaten to death on her family's Greenwich estate with wounds from a golf club, later traced to a set owned by Michael Skakel's late mother. The case will remain unsolved for 25 years and become the subject of several books.

-- June 17, 1998: Prosecutors announce that a one-judge grand jury has been appointed to investigate Moxley's killing.

-- Aug. 4, 1998: Former Skakel family live-in tutor Kenneth Littleton is compelled to testify before the grand jury. Littleton, an early suspect, receives transactional or "blanket" immunity from prosecution, for Skakel, and he surrenders the following day, charged as a juvenile because of his age -- 15 -- at the time of the murder.

-- March 14, 2000: Skakel is arraigned in open court and tells Moxley's mother: "You've got the wrong guy."

-- Feb. 21, 2001: Skakel is rearraigned after the case is transferred to Superior Court.

-- April 19, 2001: Gregory Coleman, who attended a substance abuse treatment center with Skakel in the 1970s, admits being high on heroin when he testified before the grand jury, but he stands by his testimony that Skakel said he would get away with murder because "I'm a Kennedy."

-- Aug. 7, 2001: Coleman is found dead in Rochester, N.Y., after using drugs.

-- May 7: Testimony begins in Skakel's trial. A parade of witnesses -- 12 in all -- will testify over the following weeks that Skakel incriminated himself.

-- June 7: Skakel, 41, is convicted of murder after more than three days of deliberations.

-- Aug 29: Skakel is sentenced to 20 years to life in prison. On the stand for the first time, he insists he is innocent.