WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is leaving in place a decision that vacated a murder conviction against Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel (SKAY’-kul).

The high court on Monday declined a request from the state of Connecticut to hear the case.

Skakel was convicted in 2002 after decades of investigations into the 1975 bludgeoning death of neighbor Martha Moxley.

Moxley lived across the street from the Skakel family in Greenwich, Connecticut. Her body was found in her family’s backyard. Skakel and Moxley were 15 when she was killed.

Connecticut could still decide to retry Skakel. That would be difficult, but the state has not said what it would do if the Supreme Court declined to hear the case.

Skakel is a nephew of Robert F. Kennedy’s widow, Ethel Kennedy. His lawyers said he was miles away at the likely time Moxley was killed.