Skakel Debacle (TM): Hard to give real insight into the whole story as my sources are either too generalized (broad press accounts ) or completely slanted (Dunne). I just think that where there's smoke, there's fire. The guy is infatuated with the girl, he admits to whacking off outside her window, there is no question in my mind she rebuffed his awkward advances at one time or another, and he's a loser even in his teenage years. Couple all that angst and hormones with some booze and pot, and I don't see how he's not involved. NOW, that doesn't mean he fries just because of my feelings; some hard evidence would be nice. But, when you manage to convince a police and court system to prosecute a case which is decades-old, you are pretty much commited to coming to a resolution. Stated differently, the D.A. wasn't going to try this case if he didn't feel, for whatever reason, the stars were aligned in his favor, despite the political pressure. So, was the whole thing contrived? Sure, but find me a capital case with a famous defendant that isn't (either by the prosecution or defense or both). Skakel was the safe defendant for the prosecution by virtue of no matter how much rinsing his defense team did, there would still be plenty of mud that would stick. Plus, and to mix my metaphors, can you imagine how many old axes there were to grind in that small town vis-a-vis the Kennedy clan? Oofah.