Mother vows to fight Skakel's parole

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SUFFIELD, Conn., Oct. 21 (UPI) -- The mother of a girl beaten to death in 1975 says she will do whatever she can to keep Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel behind bars.

Skakel was convicted in 2002 of beating Martha Moxley to death with a golf club in 1975 when they were both teenagers, the Hartford (Conn.) Courant reported. He was sentenced to 20-years-to-life in prison.

Skakel, now 52, is a nephew of Robert F. Kennedy's widow, Ethel Kennedy.

On Wednesday, Skakel will appear before the Board of Pardons and Paroles at McDougall-Walker Correctional Institution in Suffield in an attempt to be released from prison.

Dorthy Moxley, Martha's mother, said Friday she plans to speak at the hearing.

"I did feel a sense of justice 10 years ago," Moxley, 80, said. "But they keep coming up with these things. That bit of justice we had is just wilting away."

About 12 of Skakel's family members are expected to attend the hearing as well.

"Michael's conviction was a miscarriage of justice, but that aside, his further incarceration would also be a miscarriage of justice since he should have been sentenced as a juvenile with a maximum sentence of four years," said Hope Seeley, Skakel's attorney. "There has never been a person more deserving of parole than Michael Skakel. His track record during the past 10 years shows the person we all know him to be -- caring, generous, and committed to his faith, family and friends."

Moxley said that because Skakel "comes from a lot of money, he and his lawyers come up with anything and everything they possibly can" to try and challenge his conviction.

"I know there's no such thing in this world as fairness, but I'm not sure people really know what the victims have to go through, how torturous this really is. I wish I was young so I could start some sort of campaign to help victims."

However, "As long as I have a breath in my body, I will be there," Moxley said.