Skakel Gets 20 Years to Life - Thu Aug 29, 2:29 PM ET - By JOHN CHRISTOFFERSEN, Associated Press Writer

NORWALK, Conn. (AP) - Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison Thursday for bludgeoning a teenage neighbor to death with a golf club 27 years ago.

Skakel wept as he testified for the first time Thursday and insisted he was innocent in the death of Martha Moxley.

"I would love to be able to say I did the crime so that the Moxley family could have rest and peace," he said, sobbing. "But to do that would be a lie."

Skakel, 41, a nephew of Ethel Kennedy, was convicted of murder in June for Moxley's slaying, which occurred in their gated Greenwich neighborhood of Belle Haven when they were both 15.

Her battered body was discovered on Oct. 31, 1975, under a tree on her family's estate, next door to the Skakels. 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.

"For the last 25 years or more ... the defendant has been living a lie about his guilt," Judge John Kavanewsky Jr. said in sentencing Skakel. "This defendant has accepted no responsibility, he has expressed no personal remorse."

Prosecutor Jonathan Benedict called the slaying "cold-bloodedly evil."

I don't know why the vibe I get from him is so evil. I think this guy sould be soaked in gasoline, set on fire and the put out with a golf club.