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Moxleys satisfied with Skakel sentence

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel's 20-years-to-life prison sentence for the 1975 murder of 15-year-old Martha Moxley is "very reasonable," according to the girl's mother, who has pushed for 27 years to see her daughter's killer punished.

As Skakel began the first full day of his sentence Friday in Connecticut, where he was convicted, Dorthy Moxley and her son John told CNN they were certain of Skakel's guilt.

"I know they have the right person," Dorthy Moxley said. "I'm positive."

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John Moxley said he was confident that Skakel's appeals would go nowhere.

"They'll continue to look for legal loopholes and rocks to crawl under, but you know, we'll be there," he said. "I'm not an attorney, but from what I understand of the appeal process and the issues, I really don't think there's anything there that they have a leg to stand on."

Skakel, 41, was convicted in June in the beating death of Martha Moxley on October 30, 1975. At his sentencing hearing Thursday, the nephew of Ethel Skakel Kennedy, widow of assassinated Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, offered a tearful statement laced with religious references. He said he prays for the Moxley family every day -- but said he did not kill Martha Moxley.

"I have been accused of a crime. I would love to be able to say that I did it, but I cannot do that," he said.

Dorthy Moxley said it was a leaked report from a detective agency -- commissioned by the Skakel family -- that convinced her of Skakel's guilt. That report said Michael and his brother Tommy admitted lying to police about their actions the night Moxley died, and that Michael admitted to being at the scene of the crime that night.

"He had no reason to change his story," Moxley said. "No reason whatsoever."

The Moxleys had asked Connecticut Superior Court Judge John Kavanewsky to impose the maximum sentence -- 25 years to life -- for Skakel, but on Friday, Dorthy Moxley said she was satisfied.

"I think that 20 years to life is a very reasonable sentence," she said. "He has to behave in order to get out early, and so you know if he behaves maybe ... that's all right."