An appeals court Thursday overturned the murder conviction of Kennedy in-law Paul Hill, who previously won his freedom from a wrongful imprisonment for IRA bombings in Britain.
Hill, 39, now married to a daughter of the late Sen. Robert Kennedy, argued that physical and psychological abuse by English police led him to confess to helping kidnap and kill a former British soldier in Belfast in 1974.He and three co-defendants in the bombing cases spent 15 years in prison in Britain before being freed by a London appeals court in 1989. That case was the basis for the movie "In the Name of the Father."
The bombing case was one of a series of appeals victories for people convicted of Irish Republican Army attacks in the 1970s and led to the appointment of a government commission to review Britain's justice system.
Lord Chief Justice Sir Brian Hutton said the Belfast court was not convinced Hill had always told the truth. But he said the burden was on the state to "satisfy us beyond a reasonable doubt" that Hill's charge of mistreatment was untrue.
The murder victim's widow, Maureen Hall, said she was disappointed with the verdict and that the "Kennedy circus" put extra pressure on the judges.
As the ruling was read, Hill sat between his wife, Courtney Kennedy, and her mother, Ethel Kennedy. He clasped hands with each in turn when his conviction was overturned. Other Kennedy relatives, including U.S. Rep. Joe Kennedy, had attended appeal hearings in February and March.
Hill confessed to involvement in the killing of Brian Shaw in July 1974 after his arrest as a suspect in IRA bombings that killed five people at two pubs in Guilford, England.
Hill was accused of helping an IRA man abduct Shaw and take him to the place where he was shot, but he was not accused of actually killing Shaw. No one else was convicted in the case. There was no physical evidence linking Hill to the slaying.
His confession and later identification of a photo of Shaw were used to convict him in 1975, shortly before he and three other people were convicted of the Guilford bombings.
Each of the "Guildford Four" received life sentences but won their freedom when the Court of Appeal in London ruled police lied about evidence.