Dorthy Moxley had tears in her eyes as she hugged her son, John, in the courtroom. More than 25 years after her daughter Martha had been beaten to death, a jury had found a man guilty of killing her. She told an interviewer that the day had felt like a dream and she feared she would wake up. John later said that the verdict came as long-awaited relief; he was “just glad it was done.”

Over the nearly 16 years afterward, though, the case was anything but over. The man who had been convicted, Michael C. Skakel, waged an appeal that grew into a legal fight that stretched years and came with twist after twist. His conviction was overturned by one court and reinstated by the Connecticut Supreme Court. Then, on Friday, the high court reversed its own decision, vacating Mr. Skakel’s conviction for the 1975 murder.

The experience has been “just like a yo-yo,” Mrs. Moxley said in a telephone interview on Saturday morning. The ruling on Friday was a disappointment. Still, she added: “I’m just so conditioned to this happening and then something else happening. If something else happens, it won’t surprise me in the least.”

For decades, the case has been a media sensation, grabbing headlines with the details of a gruesome murder in one of the country’s most affluent suburbs, a suspect with ties to the Kennedy family and questions about the influence of wealth and privilege in the criminal justice system.