Kennedy cousin Skakel denied parole

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SUFFIELD, Conn., Oct. 24 (UPI) -- Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel, imprisoned for 10 years for the 1975 killing of Martha Moxley, was denied parole Wednesday.

The decision by the three-person Connecticut Board of Pardons and Parole, at the MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution in Suffield, Conn., came after Skakel made the case he did not kill Moxley, The Hartford (Conn.) Courant reported.

"I know the best chance for me getting paroled" is to admit the crime," Skakel said, "but ten and a half years later I can't do that. It just isn't me," adding this week marks 30 years of sobriety for him. "How could a guilty man stay sober for 30 years with that kind of guilt on their mind?"

Board Chair Erika Tindill told Skakel the parole hearing was not the place to retry the case.

Skakel, the 52-year-old nephew of Ethel Kennedy, has received a 20 year-to-life sentence for bludgeoning neighbor Martha Moxley to death with a golf club in 1975, CNN reported.

Skakel was tried and convicted of the crime as an adult in 2002. Moxley was 15 at the time of her death.

Her mother Dorothy Moxley told CNN she wants Skakel to serve at least 20 years.

The Board received a letter from Moxley's brother John asking that Skakel's parole be denied.

He called Skakel "a representative of the most dangerous aspect of our society," adding that Skakel is someone who was raised to believe the rules of society don't apply to him.

Skakel's attorney said the defense submitted 65 letters to the board on Skakel's behalf.