Supreme Court reinstates murder conviction in case of Etan Patz, missing New York City boy
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday reinstated a murder conviction in the 1979 disappearance of 6-year-old Etan Patz.The justices, by a 6-3 vote, granted an appeal from New York prosecutors who had urged them to undo a federal appeals court decision that overturned the verdict.The three liberal justices dissented.Prosecutors had been preparing to try the man, Pedro Hernandez, for a third time.
His first trial ended in a mistrial.The unanimous panel of the U.S.Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reversed Hernandez’s murder and kidnapping conviction in the second trial because of how the judge had answered a question from jurors.Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg had called the basis for overturning the conviction “a slender reed” that essentially ignored a five-month-long trial with 66 witnesses.The justices agreed, in an unsigned opinion, that federal courts should not second-guess state courts under a 1996 federal law that was intended to reduce federal court oversight of state criminal trials.“The Second Circuit exceeded its authority in holding that Hernandez is entitled to relief,” the court wrote, referring to the New York-based appeals court.Hernandez, 64, has been serving a sentence of 25 years to life in prison.Hernandez admitted to the crime under police questioning, but his lawyers say he falsely confessed because of a mental illness that sometimes made him hallucinate.
They emphasized that the admission came after police queried him for about seven hours before reading him his rights and recording the interview.Hernandez then repeated his confession on tape, at least twice.Etan vanished while walking to his downtown Manhattan school bus stop on May 25, 1979.
Hernandez worked at a nearby convenience shop at the time, but the Maple Shade, New Jersey, resident didn’t become a suspect until 2012.Etan was among the first missing children ever to appear on milk cartons, and the anniversary of his disappearance became Nati...