Caroline Kennedy’s Fight To Free Cousin From Murder Charges

Michael Skakel has been freed from prison after being convicted in 2002 of brutally beating Martha Moxley with a golf club in 1975 — with family insiders crediting Caroline Kennedy for getting the family's cousin out of prison!

Skakel — who had already been freed on a $1.2 million bail in 2013 — had his murder conviction struck down by the Connecticut Supreme Court over claims that multiple defense witnesses were ignored, and police hadn't investigated another man's confession to the murder. Robert Kennedy Jr. praised the ruling as an “exoneration” — with insiders saying Caroline had fought hardest for her cousin!

As earlier reported by The National ENQUIRER, Caroline had been pressured by her family to use her political clout over the past several years. While serving as the U.S. Ambassador to Japan, Caroline even reportedly tried to persuade President Barack Obama to arrange a pardon for Skakel.

And with Caroline's ambassadorship ending in 2016, arrangements were made for Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy to receive that year's Profile in Courage Award. “Caroline feels Michael has paid his debt to society, and she’s determined to get him a pardon,” a source reported.

Skakel is the nephew of Robert F. Kennedy’s widow, Ethel — and was sentenced in 2002 to 20 years in prison for killing his 15-year-old neighbor Martha Moxley. But while the Kennedys celebrate, 85-year-old Dorthy Moxley (pictured) is heartbroken over the conviction being overturned. “I sat through the trial,” she said. “I heard all the evidence. He is the killer, the murderer of my daughter.”