RFK Jr. ‘dead certain’ his cousin had been framed

‘I am dead certain they did it, but people should read the facts and make up their own mind.’

— ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR. on his cousin Michael Skakel being framed

Michael Skakel’s cousin Robert F. Kennedy Jr. penned a book in 2016 arguing his kin had no part in the 1975 killing of Martha Moxley, saying instead it was two out-of-towners.

The book, “Framed: Why Michael Skakel Spent over a Decade in Prison for a Murder He Didn’t Commit,” said two teenagers from New York City bludgeoned Moxley to death with a golf club.

“I am dead certain they did it,” Kennedy told The New York Times when the book was released, “but people should read the facts and make up their own mind.”

Kennedy’s book examines how evidence in the case disappeared and testimony offered by witnesses was allegedly manipulated.

The book also argues that Skakel was sabotaged by a family lawyer who worked with prosecutors because he held a grudge against the Skakels and that an investigator persuaded witnesses to lie on the stand.

Connecticut authorities said much of the information pointed to by Kennedy, including the claim that Moxley was killed by the two out-of-towners, had been brought out in court by a Skakel attorney’s cross-examination of witnesses.

“It is important for the public to know that these very same allegations have been thoroughly vetted in legal proceedings and found to be baseless,” the criminal division said.

Kennedy also points a finger at the intense public interest in the case given Skakel’s connection to the Kennedy family through his aunt Ethel Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy’s widow.