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Appeals Court Overturns Etan Patz Conviction, Mandates New Trial

The court ruled that flawed guidance on distinguishing confessions given before Miranda warnings from those given after compromised the 2017 verdict

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U.S. flag and Judge gavel are seen in this illustration taken, August 6, 2024. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
The New York Police Department supplies this poster of Etan Patz on his way to school, on May 25, 2012. Pedro Hernandez confessed to murdering Etan Patz in 1979 and convicted. And appeals court threw out the conviction Monday. File photo by UPI

Overview

  • The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court ordered Hernandez’s release unless a lower court schedules a new trial within a timeframe deemed reasonable
  • Judges found that a state trial judge misdirected jurors by improperly answering a note about whether to disregard non-Mirandized statements when weighing later confessions
  • Hernandez’s 2017 conviction rested almost entirely on his disputed confessions from a seven-hour interrogation in the absence of physical evidence
  • Defense attorneys argued Hernandez’s severe mental illness and low IQ made him prone to false confessions and hallucinations during police questioning
  • Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office is reviewing the appeals court ruling to decide whether to pursue a third trial or release Hernandez