Michael Skakel, the 52-year-old nephew of Ethel Kennedy, the widow of Robert F. Kennedy, was denied parole Wednesday for the 1975 murder of his neighbor.
This was Skakel’s first opportunity for parole after being sentenced to 20 years to life in 2002 for stabbing Martha Moxley to death and bludgeoning her with a golf club.
Both Skakel and Moxley were 15-years-old at the time of the crime. Moxley was found dead in her yard in an affluent gated community in the state of Connecticut where they both lived.
The case went cold for nearly two decades, but was reopened in the late 1990s after law enforcement found new evidence linking Skakel to the crime.
In 2010, he filed an appeal of his conviction on the grounds his trial attorney was incompetent. That trial begins next April.
Skakel continues to maintain his innocence, “I know the best chance for me getting paroled” is to admit the crime, he said at Wednesday’s parole hearing, according to media reports. “But 10 ½ years later, I can’t do that. It just isn’t me.”
He will next be eligible for parole in 2017.
