Supreme Court restores conviction in Etan Patz murder case
The justices revived Pedro Hernandez’s 2017 conviction, rejecting a federal appeals court ruling that had ordered a new trial.
By Sofia Marchetti · World Affairs Correspondent
3 min read
The Supreme Court on Monday reinstated Pedro Hernandez’s murder conviction in the 1979 disappearance of 6-year-old Etan Patz, according to the Associated Press. The ruling preserves a verdict in one of New York’s best-known missing-child cases and ends, for now, prosecutors’ preparations for a third trial.
The justices ruled 6-3 for New York prosecutors, AP reported. The court’s three liberal justices dissented.
In an unsigned opinion, the Supreme Court said the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit went too far when it overturned Hernandez’s conviction. The justices said federal courts have limited authority to disturb state criminal judgments under a 1996 federal law meant to curb federal review of state trials.
“The Second Circuit exceeded its authority in holding that Hernandez is entitled to relief,” the justices wrote, according to AP.
Hernandez, 64, has been serving a sentence of 25 years to life in prison, AP reported. A Manhattan jury convicted him in 2017 of murder and kidnapping after a first trial ended with a deadlocked jury in 2015.
Dispute centered on jury instructions
The federal appeals court had reversed the conviction over the way the trial judge answered a question from jurors during deliberations. According to AP, jurors asked whether, if they found Hernandez’s first confession was not voluntary because he had not yet been read his rights, they had to disregard his later confessions as well.
The trial judge answered, “the answer is no,” AP reported. The Second Circuit later said the jury should have received a fuller explanation, including that jurors could consider discounting all of the confessions.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg had urged the Supreme Court to reinstate the verdict. AP reported that Bragg called the appeals court’s reasoning “a slender reed” that failed to account for a five-month trial with 66 witnesses.
Bragg welcomed Monday’s decision. “This office has remained steadfast in its pursuit of justice for Etan and the Patz family and will continue to stand by this important conviction,” Bragg said in a statement cited by AP.
Hernandez’s lawyers criticized the ruling. Attorneys Harvey Fishbein and Alice Fontier said they were “terribly disappointed” and added, “We firmly believe that an innocent man is in jail for a crime that he did not commit,” according to AP.
A case that changed missing-child awareness
Etan disappeared on May 25, 1979, while walking to his school bus stop in downtown Manhattan, AP reported. Hernandez worked at a nearby convenience store at the time, but he did not become a suspect until 2012.
Hernandez admitted to the crime during police questioning, according to AP. His lawyers have argued that the confession was false and said he had a mental illness that sometimes caused hallucinations.
Defense lawyers also emphasized that police questioned Hernandez for about seven hours before reading him his rights and recording an interview, AP reported. Hernandez then repeated the confession on tape at least twice.
Etan became one of the first missing children shown on milk cartons, AP reported. The anniversary of his disappearance later became National Missing Children’s Day.
This story draws on original reporting from Fortune.