Supreme Court Restores Conviction in 1979 Murder of Etan Patz

The Supreme Court on Monday reversed a lower court decision that had reopened the case of the man convicted in the killing of Etan Patz, a 6-year-old boy whose 1979 abduction in Manhattan reshaped American childhoods.The court’s unsigned opinion restores the conviction of the man, Pedro Hernandez, who the U.S.Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit had said last year was entitled to a new trial.The three liberal justices — Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson — noted their objection to the majority’s order.Mr.

Hernandez was found guilty in 2017 of kidnapping and murdering Etan, but an appeals court overturned that judgment in July.Months later, the Manhattan district attorney’s office, which prosecuted Mr.

Hernandez, asked the nation’s highest court to review the decision.On Monday, a defense lawyer for Mr.Hernandez, Harvey Fishbein, said the Supreme Court’s order meant his client would not get a new trial and that his team was “terribly disappointed.”“We firmly believe that an innocent man is in jail for a crime that he did not commit,” Mr.

Fishbein said.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe....