RFK Jr: Connecticut court's Skakel decision an 'exoneration'

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) - Robert Kennedy Jr. says the Connecticut Supreme Court's ruling that struck down the murder conviction of his cousin, Michael Skakel, is effectively an "exoneration."

Kennedy said on NBC's "Today" show Tuesday that he has recently spoken to Skakel, who was "elated" by the court's ruling May 4.

Skakel was convicted in 2002 of fatally beating Martha Moxley with a golf club in 1975, when they were teenage neighbors in Greenwich. He was freed on $1.2 million bail in 2013 when a lower court judge overturned his conviction.

Connecticut's high court reinstated the conviction in 2016, but reversed itself this month.

Robert Kennedy Jr. said Tuesday multiple people had placed Skakel 5 miles away at the time of the killing, and police have refused to investigate other suspects, including one person who confessed.