SUFFIELD, Conn. (AP) - Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel is proclaiming his innocence in his first parole hearing to determine whether he should be released from a Connecticut prison a decade after he was convicted of killing his neighbor.
Skakel spoke slowly and softly at the hearing at McDougall-Walker Correctional Institution in Suffield, saying: "I did not commit this crime."
Skakel is serving 20 years to life for fatally beating Martha Moxley with a golf club in 1975 in Greenwich when they were 15. Skakel is a nephew of Ethel Kennedy, the widow of Robert F. Kennedy.
He was convicted in 2002. He is eligible for parole consideration because of laws in place at the time of the crime including good behavior credits.
Dorthy Moxley, the victim's mother, has rejected Skakel's claims of innocence.
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