. you call it framed. you are alleging that people purposely pinned this crime on mi mikal skakal.

>> h he place ed himself at the scene of the crime. >> reporter: twists and turns from 40 years, now there's another. >> there was nothing connecting him to that crime. >> was the wrong man sent to prison? >> who killed martha moxley. >> we know who killed martha. we have proved it. >> it was a very intense case. >> it's a throw down now. >> i'm lester holt and this is "dateline". >> is it hard for you to fathom that 40 years after the murder of your sister, there's still legal issues surrounding this case. >> 41 years is a long time and i can't tell you how many times we have been in the courtroom and it's mind boggling in a lot of ways. >> every time there's a legal

twist or turn, what does it do to your peace of mind? >> i don't know that there are legal uncertainties, we have proved it and he was convicted and he was sent the jail. >> but the case has been turned upside down. the man convicted of killing 15-year-old martha is out of prison. michael skakel's conviction has been set aside and judges are got to decide whether he gets to stay free. his famous cousin, robert f. kennedy jr. has listening defended him. >> there's no way that michael skakel could have committed this murder and there's no way me did. >> now he's naming the people that did it. are you expecting people to sue you now that this book is out.

welcome to sue me. >> it's about a stunning murder that captured the nation's attention and fueled a mother's grief for four decades. >> how many times in your mind have gone over the last moment you saw her? >> i don't know, many. >> in 1975, martha and her brother john were new to the affluent belle haven section of greenwich, connecticut. >> you told me that you moved there because you thought it was one of the safest places you could raise your children. >> it was. they didn't have murders in greenwich, connecticut. >> i grew up in greenwich as well. we knew some of the same people. what is your description of growing up in greenwich? >> nice people.

i have a lot of very fochnd memories of greenwich. >> how can somebody the the west coast go to a new school and all of a sudden be everybody's best friend. >> down the street from the moxleys were the skakels. >> let's make sure everyone knows the connection between the skakel family and the kennedy family. >> my father of course is robert kennedy. >> there were seven skakel kids, six boys and one girl. growing up without their mother, who died of cancer. like the kennedys, they were rich, but the skakels were prominent republicans. when we sat down at this table,

robert, we said isles funt's fu there's no pictures of the skakels and the kennedys together. >> i was looking at this picture of the skakel kids and i never knew them when they were this ages. >> those skakel kids and their neighborhood friends, martha included, were out celebrating what's called mischief night, the night before halloween. >> there was no school the next day, so i said, okay, fine. go. >> there was no worries about letting a 15-year-old -- >> people didn't lock the doors and there was no problem. >> what happened next would be debated for the next 40 years. here's what's known, with their father out of town, the skakel girls went to dinner with their new tutor where alcohol was served. later they met up at their house with some friends, including martha. around 9:30, some of the skakel

kids piled into a car and went to a friend's house to watch tv. 17-year-old tommy skakel were left behind. somebody saw martha and tommy flirting in the skakel driveway. when did you notice that something was wrong? >> i went downstairs and i said, m martha's not home yet, that's funny. >> i went out and looked around the neighborhood, but i didn't see anything. >> can you describe the rest of that night, mrs. moxley? i don't know if anyone can identify with that. what do you do when your daughter doesn't come home? >> i just thought, well, you know, i called all her friends, i called everybody. >> dorothy also called police. the next day, one of martha's friends found her body under a tree in the moxley yard.

>> my friend would go and look and said it was martha, and she was gone. >> the crime was brutal, she was beaten with a golf club that broke into pieces, the shaft used to stab her in the neck. she was. raped, but her pants were left down around here knees. >> you grew up in hurry after this? >> in some ways, there was always a constant haze that how is this possible? it just wasn't real. >> it was a sad day in greenwich, a day when people stood outside of church and talked quietly. they talked about violence, which it turned out could even find it's way into the suburbs. >> two of the skakel bores, john, 16 at the time and david who was 12, talked about that day. do you remember your reaction when you heard martha moxley's body had been found? >> yeah.

i mean my hackles go up, it's horrifying. you started out by asking, what was it like to live in belle haven? it was magic, and that magic was broken. >> that tree lined street was now a crime scene. police determined the murder weapon, that golf club came from a set blocelonging to the skake family. she was last seen with one of the skakel family. they determined she died around 10:00. >> i don't remember a precise moment, but it started to creep in and you started to hear about it or read about it and our name was slowly attached to it. and a cloud just started forming around the family after that. >> there was suspicion, but not much more, in fact the case went

>> reporter: when we come back -- >> the police investigation was inept from the beginning. >> reporter: new questions and new stories about what happened that night. >> he claimeded that he climbed a tree trying to look into her window to see her. >> i had been talking to police, to a reporter, who said i know who killed martha. available in the altima, sentra and maxima. now get 0% apr for 72 months, plus $500 bonus cash. ♪ ♪ ♪la charrue passe dans le ciel♪ ♪ ♪et je descends lentement

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>> you have two unthinkable things happen here, your daughter has been murdered and then what seems to be also

unthinkable, is five years pass, ten years pass, there's no arrest in this case. what were those years like? >> well, i know -- people could not have been nicer. in fact they were kind and nice enough not even to talk about it and i had to talk about it. because john and his father didn't want to talk to me about it. >> why didn't you want to talk about it, john? >> just too painful. i was deathly afraid of opening that door. >> at first, tommy skakel the last person seen with martha was the logical suspect. investigators also looked hard at the family's live in tutor, ken littleton who failed the polygraph. but police could ner link them to the crime. inside the skakel house, a different drama was unfolding, young michael skakel seemed to be falling apart. when did you hear about michael? >> michael, i know it was maybe a year or so after martha's murder, he was found drunk in our ditct

house. and the police came, so we found out that he had all kinds of problems. >> michael bounced from school to school and was already a heavy drinker. after a drunk driving incident, michael's father sent him to elan, a school or troubled kids. but despite all that, michael was never a police suspect. he always had a solid alibi, saying he went to his cousin's house the night of the murder. backed up by john. >> the most important thing that i can share about michael, is that michael's innocent and i can say that with 100% certainty, because i was with him eight miles away at my cousin's. we left our house at 9:30, and we didn't come back until sometime after 11:00, and i was

given a polygraph, which i passed. >> years went by without that alibiing with questioned. but years later, suspicious would shift to michael. >> the police investigation was inept from the beginning. >> as authorities decided to take a second look at the indication, so did the media, including special crime writer dominick dunne. >> he was particularly into this case. >> cynthia mcfadden is nbc news senior investigative and consider correspondent. >> at the william kennedy smith rape trial, that william kennedy smith had been at the moxley house the night of the murde

dominick dunne was very interested. he was interested sufficiently that me wrote a novel based on the crime. >> michael's father hired private investigators, but that backfired because michael changed his story. he still said he went to his cousin's house that night, but now he says he didn't go straight to bed after he got home. instead, he went out again to martha's house. >> and he went looking for her. >> chris morano was the prosecutor in the case. >> he claimed he climbed a tree to look into her window. and afterwards, he masturbated. >> after that he climbed down and walked through the area where martha's body was later found. >> he placed himself at the scene of the crime looking for the victim. >> he was a subject of a book written by mark fuhrman. >> explosion, mark fuhrman solved t crime so he said at the time.

and the culprit, the murder, he said but michael skakel. according to detective furman. >> investigators were coming to the same conclusion, they said 15-year-old michael was inf infatuated with michael, jealous of her friendship with tommy and obsessed with her murder. by now michael was sober and helping others with recovery. but people from his difficult past were coming forward, telling investigators, michael admitted he had done it. >> over the years, he made confessions to multiple people. he made incriminating stations to multiple people. i might have done, i could have done it, i don't remember. >> 25 years after that terrible night, police arrested michael skakel. >> did you think police had the right ma >> i had been talking to the police constantly, i had been talking to reporters. i was prepared and ready.

fact that michael skakel was the guy who killed your daughter, or were you just ready for somebody to be charged. >> dominick dunne called me one morning and said dorothy, i know who killed martha. it was michael. >> the case of martha moxley would finally be heard in court for the first time. but it wouldn't be the last. >> reporter: coming up, michael skakel speaks about the night of the murder. >> i guess i'm a little out of my mind, because i was drunk and high. >> reporter: and the jury speaks too. >> you call it "framed." you are allegatiing that people purposely framed michael skakel for this crime?

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michael skakel went on trial in 2002, 27 years after the murder of martha moxley. did you go to the trial? >> i went to a couple of days of the trial. >> why just a couple of days? >> well, first of all, michael did not really want me at the trial. secondly, i wasn't doing him any good at the trial, except for feeding that kind of press frenzy. >> chris morano assisted lead prosecutor john benedict.

mosaic of credible evidence that when you combine them, they created a picture of michael's guilt. >> that evidence including the testimony of two former students at the elan school. they said michael confessed. >> there was some stunning statements made to the students of elan. i'm a kennedy cousin and i'll get away with murder, being the most prominent. >> lead prosecuas for michael's he was at his cousin's much of the night, the prosecution pointed out, only his family confirmed it. there's always been this sense, guys, that the skakel family circled the wagons, that after the murder of martha moxley, the family got together and said, guys, here's t

all going to stick to it. we're all going to stick with the alibi. >> we'll tell you where that rumor began. and that's mr. benedict. >> the prosecutor? >> yes. >> what jonathan benedict did was he concocted this theory, cut out of whole cloth that all of us siblings, kind of like the lord of the flies, that we all conspired together as kids and for decades kept this secret, but basically also that we were liars. >> the prosecutors also said the alibi, true or false may not matter, martha's time of death wasn't set in stone. >> there was sufficient evidence to show that this murder could have happened at a later time. >> no forensic evidence put michael at the crime scene, but prosecutors say his own words did him in. michael made this recording in

1997 for a book proposal, again, telling that story about how he went to look for martha the night of the crime. >> i guess i'm a little out of my mind because i was drunk and high. i pulled my pants down, i masturbated for 30 seconds in a tree and i went, this is crazy. if they catch me, they're going to think i'm nuts. >> michael said the next morning he was worried and embarrassed. >> i was like oh, my god, did they see me last night? >> prosecutors argue that michael concocted that story to cover his tracks, especially after dna became a factor in criminal investigations. >> the prosecution was very effect tiff in saying he changed what he said because he knew that his dna might be at the scene. >> prosecutors used the tape again, to devastating effect in their closing argument. they selectively edited the tape using crime scene photos and suggested that michael was worried, but not because he was

>> i was like oh, my god, did they see me last night? and i'm like, i don't know, and i remember just having this feeling of panic, like oh, [ bleep ]. >> and we felt, that at that point the feeling of panic wasn't that someone had seen him masturbating, we felt that the feeling of panic was that he had just committed a murder. >> going into the closing arguments it was not clear at all that michael skakel was going to be convicted. walking out of the courtroom after the state's closing argument, it really moved the needle i think in a lot of people's minds. >> a verdict today in the martha moxley murder. >> what was the moment like when you heard guilty. >> wonderful. >> you know, this is martha's day, this is truly martha's day. >> do you remember your reaction? >> i was shocked, i think everybody was shocked. >> shocked because kennedy says the michael he knows is incapable of murder. they may have been strangers as

close when both found themselves in recovery. >> i went to literally thousands of 12-step meetings with him. i saw him in kind of every circumstance and in particularly, you know in circumstances that test people's characters. >> so when michael was sentenced to 20 years to life, robert kennedy jr. set out to investigate. a lawyer himself, he interviewed family members, witnesses, and examined documents. and now he's released a book about the case. you called the book "framed." you didn't call the book mistake or justice got it wrong. you call it framed, which is a very serious allegation. you are alleging that people, for one reason or another, purposely pinned this crime on michael skakel? >> correct. and again, people should not listen to my opinion about that. >> but this is your allegation? t'

the facts. >> kennedy says the press helped frame his cousin by attaching the kennedy name to the case. it was unfair, he said, because growing up michael never considered himself a kennedy. >> all of the articles he was described as kennedy cousin michael skakel. that became his first name. >> in fact, he is a kennedy cuss seven. but later you came to the conclusion that that was used in a prejudicial way. >> it fed the press that somehow the kennedy family was involved. >> you said you feel responsible in a small way for his conviction. >> i don't feel personally responsible for it. >> the kennedy family? >> michael skakel would not be

been able to call him kennedy cousin michael skakel. >> reporter: coming up, robert kennedy lays out his case. >> the most important thing is that he couldn't have done it because he wasn't there. >> he never said things like, oh, i'm a kennedy.

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one of these two is michael. >> in a case full of conflicting narratives, robert kennedy jr. says there's one piece of evidence that's plain as a picture. >> this is the photo they showed of him at the trial, this was actually four years later when he had beefed up. >> this was the young man, how he looked at the time of martha moxley's murder? >> yep. so he's 15 here, he's a shrimp. >> and you do not believe in your heart, and you have talked to investigators who don't think

this guy was capable of the kind of force that would shatter a golf club, even in a moment of passion? >> i don't think that is evidence that this boy could have done that. the most important thing is that he couldn't have done because he wasn't there. >> kennedy blames michael's attorney for not showing the jury an accurate photo. but what about those two former students from the elan school, that said michael confessed. >> feel sorry for you. >> this film was shot at elan right about the time michael skakel was there. it's an nbc news report on the school's controversial methods. >> you're a selfish little ingrate. >> it was here that michael skakel met student sarah peterson. >> the first day i got there, michael was on the floor scrubbing the floor with a sign around his neck that went down to his feet. it said ea

the death of my neighbor, martha moxley. >> she says she saw michael beaten. she testified at trial, that michael never confessed. >> if he had confessed at any time, it would have been public knowledge throughout the whole school. he would have been brought up, he would have been dealt with. he also never said things like, oh, i'm a kennedy. that was not like him, he was way more humble that that. >> he points out one of the witnesses was a heroin addict, and the other changed his story to get reward muffin. >> liars who had no relationship with michael other than a bullying relationship. >> what really hurt michael skakel was that he changed a major element in his story of where he was that night and what he did? and this is thno

night and i climbed in a tree near the moxley house and i masturbated. why would he change that story? >> why would he change that story? why would any 14 or 15-year-old kid want to admit to the police or the father or anybody else that he had been masturbating? >> but the problem with it is, and you know this, in one story, he's in the house in bed, in the other story, he's out very close to the moxley house. >> you know, matt, there are many, many people whose stories change over the year. >> and what's more, kennedy says he knows michael did not create that story to explain away any dna. >> the prosecutor said, that michael changed his story in 1994 to deal with the possibility that some of his dna would be found on martha. the problem with that is there

were multiple witnesses, many, many witnesses, including myself who heard him tell that story in 1993 and even earlier. >> he calls out members of the press, including the late dominick dunne for relentlessly repeating it. it's a bit of a double-edged sword here. let's be honest, the media in this country have had a decades long love affair with the kennedy family. would you agree with that? >> i think the kennedy family takes its licks from the media, and it also take s advantage of the media and commands the media attention. the pitfall is this case was not investigated by the media. >> prosecutors disagree. >> to say that michael skakel was railroaded by the media or by the state of connecticut

don't decide what evidence is believed, a jury does, and a jury did. >> but now kennedy is taking mihis public crusade a step further, saying he knows who the real killers are. >> reporter: coming up -- >> i believe the facts are that these two men murdered martha moxley. >> reporter: when "dateline" continues. create your own tour of italy is back starting at $12.99, only at olive garden. choose 3 of 9 of our favorite italian dishes to get everything you want, all on one plate. plus unlimited salad and breadsticks.

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in his book about the martha moxley murder, robert kennedy jr. argues that the case against michael skakel was so thin that any number of men could have been prosecuted. i don't know if i'm telling you for the first time that in the book he brings up other possible

one of the suspects, he said the morning after the murder, your housekeeper found streaks of blood in your home. he gives no motive. >> he's a hired gun in this case. all he's doing is trying to throw stuff against the wall and if something sticks, it's all the more better for him. >> do you offer any proof that john moxley was a suspect in the murder? >> i don't believe that john moxley murdered his sister. >> why do you bring it up in the book? >> because there was evidence against john moxley that was never investigated by the police. >> you're using john moxley with the level of evidence against michael skakel. you don't think that michael moxley had anything to do with his sister's murder? >> no, i don't. >> imo

some, he looks at his cousin tommy skakel, michael's brother, kennedy says tommy had anger issues as a team and tommy also changed his story, in an incriminating way. he first told police he said goodbye to martha around 9:30, but later said they were together longer, having a sexual encounter behind the house. tommy skakel told us he has not read the book and has no comment. when is the last time you talked to tommy? >> probably a week ago. >> how did he feel about you bringing him up as another possible suspect, even if you conclude that me's not. >> tommy has lived under the shadow of suspicion for 30 years, his life has been uprooted and really destroyed. i have no, not even an inkling of doubt that he had anything to do with this crime. >> but among kennedy's alternative theorys is a bold accusation, he points the finger

named suspects. the story is told by this man. >> you have information in regards to the martha moxley murder case that goes back to the 1970s. is that correct? >> that is correct. >> tony bryant was once a classmate of michael's in greenwich, he happens to be a famous brother of his own, kobe bryant. he contacted robert kennedy after the trial. in 1975, tony bryant was living in new york city, but says he often returned to greenwich, sometimes with two new schoolmates, one of whom he claims was obsessed with martha. >> did he seem like he really wanted this girl badly? >> no doubt in my mind. >> okay. >> no doubt in my mind. >> that night before halloween, he says, they were in belle haven, drinking and hanging out on the skakel's vast property.

>> we were wild. >> he says they all picked up golf clubs off the skakel lawn and the two guys talked about assaulting girls. >> you know, i got my club, right, and i'm going to go grab somebody and pull them by the hair and do what cave men do. >> bryant says he went home, but after he heard about martha's murder, he came to suspect his two schoolmates. >> i didn't want to ask any questions because i was afraid for myself. >> after this taped interview, bryant stopped cooperating with michael's defense. kennedy says he tracked down the two men. and what did they say? >> they admitted they were in greenwich that night. and they took the fifth when it came time for them to testify at michael's hear. >> did anybody s t

that night in the belle haven section of greenwich? >> only tony bryant recalls seeing them that night. i believe that the facts demonstrate that these two men murdered martha moxley. >> kennedy points to forensic evidence from 1975, two hairs found on the sheet used to cover martha's body, which could have had the same racial profile of the two classmates. having just said what you just said, do you expect them to sue you now that this book is out? >> if they're innocent, they should sue me. >> would you like to see that? >> i would like to see that, i would love to depose them. >> the moxleys says that kennedy's allegation absurd.

against you. >> you have call it 100 kids between 12 and 15 running around belle haven that night. and tony bryant was a known commodity, so people would have recognized him and known who he was. >> tony bryant declined to be interviewed for this report. one of the men, burton tinsley did not respond to our request for comment, but in the past has denied any connection to the crime. attorney lawrence schoenbeck -- >> he was not in connecticut on the night of the murder. he has absolutely nothing to do with this indication. >> as for kennedy's published claims. >> someone with his name and his cachay and his power to hurl accusations without credible evidence is irresponsible.

>> and former prosecutor chris mor morono says tony bryant's story is not new, it's already been heard in court and rejected for lack of corroboration. >> all of this was put before the judges in an application for new trial and the judge found that tony bryant was not credible and there was no witnesses that placed these two men at the scene of the murder or even in belle harbor that night. >> this time the result would surprise everyone. >> reporter: coming up, new witnesses with new stories. >> he was critical because he was not a family member in terms of the alibi. >> and a new stunner from the judge. >> i just -- i could not believe it.

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i am convinced i would not be alive today were it not for missile michael's help. >> notes of support from families of loved ones he often help through addiction. >> i accepted the fact that my older brother was going to die. yeah. and i believe he would have died if michael had not offered him

help. >> why is it so hard to read those? >> i'm so honored to have him as a brother. he is easily the biggest hearted person i know. >> you know, david, it's impossible in my line of work sometimes not to be cynical. a cynic might listen to those things and say, is it possible that michael skakel was making up for something in his past by showing kindness to these people? >> i can say -- >> go ahead. >> for certain that if he was making up for something, it wasn't the crime that he is accused of and went to prison for, that's for damned sure. >> for all of the court hearings -- in 2013, michael was back in court, appealing the conviction on the grounds that

not represented him effectively. a legal long shot. >> he had me believing he was the real deal. >> michael took the stand in court and accused sherman of caring more about the media than his defense. >> he said he was a immediamedi. >> and a new witness to back up the alibi that had been the subject of so much debate. >> the gentleman was not a skakel. he was critical because he was not a family member in terms of the alibi. >> mickey sherman said he defended michael to the best of his ability. >> my allegiance is to michael skakel only. >> though by this time his reputation was already in sh shamabsham

for tax evasion. then in 2013, the judge rules, michael won. >> in the judge's mind, michael skakel was not provided with his constitutionally guaranteed right to a defense. >> his conviction was thrown out and he soon walked out of prison. >> i could not believe it. >> the judge said there was evidence out there that michael's defense attorney should have brought up witnesses, evidence, pointing to another suspect, information that might have led to a not guilty verdict. >> yeah, i was there. and i think judge bishop in connecticut, monday morning quarterback, he wasn't in court at the time. and they just kept throwing it understand against the wall and finally they found a judge who was simple threat it. >> the judge said that the finger should be pointed at tommy skakel. that there was evidence against tommy skakel.

>> the last thing that tmichael wants to do is implicate his brother in the murder of martha. >> does tommy skakel in any way think that michael skakel killed martha moxley and in any way does michael skakel think that tommy skakel killed martha moxley? >> no, neither one of them think that the other killed martha moxley. >> through his attorney, michael skakel told us he welcomes a retrial to show he's completely innocent. the ruling could come any day. >> i think he should go back and finish his sentence. >> what about a new trial? >> i don't want another trial, but if there has to be, i'm certainly hong

ruling, but i'm hoping there will be not. >> robert kennedy jr. has written a book, it's called "framed j. are you going to read it? >> of course. i have to. >> you have to? why do you say you have to? >> because i want -- he's saying "framed" that means he's accusing somebody i knew, somebody i probably like of doing something wrong, and i'm going to be there to try and prove him wrong. >> i interviewed martha's mom, dorothy moxley, i asked her if she was going to read this book. she said i have to read it, i have to know what he says. so what would you say to dorothy moxley as she sits down to rethis book. >> i'm so grateful that she's going to read the book.

and i hope she -- that it doesn't cause her more pain. but i hope that she reads it to the end and sees that putting michael in jail only compounded the tragedy of martha's death. >> how could it not cause her more pain? >> well, i think that -- i think that it's going to be a painful process for her to read the b g book, because there's discussion of martha's death. i mean for me, it's very painful to read books that describe my father's death or my uncle, president kennedy's death. but i do it anyway because i want to understand the truth. >> 40 years ago, the moxley and skakel families lived down the street from one another, in this idyllic look place, da

four decades of heart break and suspicion, they couldn't be further apart. do you think it will ever truly be over? >> no. no. i think that something all victims have to realize, it's never, ever over. >> reporter: that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm lester holt, for all of us at nbc news, good night.

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