Kennedy family relative Michael Skakel has been convicted of a murder he committed 27 years ago when he was 15.
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Kennedy family relative Michael Skakel pictured during jury deliberations this week. Photo: Reuters
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Skakel (41) is a nephew of Ethel Kennedy, the widow of the late Irish-American politician Sen Robert F. Kennedy.
He slumped as the guilty verdict was read out in Norwalk, Connecticut. He faces life in prison when sentenced.
It was a crime that opened a window onto a world of privilege and raised suspicions that his family ties had protected him over the years.
Skakel slumped slightly as the verdict was read after the jury had deliberated for three days. His lawyer put his hand on Skakel's shoulder.
In the courtroom, members of the Skakel and the murdered girl's families sighed heavily. The judge immediately ordered silence in the room.
Ms Martha Moxley's battered body was discovered under a tree on her family's estate in the gated Greenwich community of Belle Haven. She had been bludgeoned with a golf club - later traced to a set owned by Skakel's mother - and stabbed in the neck with the shaft of the club.
According to testimony, Skakel had a crush on Martha and got upset because his attractive blonde neighbour, then also 15, seemed more interested in his older brother, Thomas, an early suspect.
Prosecutors had a 27-year-old case with no eyewitnesses and no forensic evidence such as DNA that could directly connect Skakel to the slaying.
Instead, the case was based almost entirely on people who said they had heard Skakel confess over the years.
AP