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2w ago

Appeals Court Vacates Conviction in Etan Patz Case

Prosecutors must now decide between seeking a new trial or releasing Hernandez

FILE- In this May 28, 2012 file photo, an image of Etan Patz hangs on an angel figurine, part of a makeshift memorial in the SoHo neighborhood of New York where the boy lived. Pedro Hernandez, a man unsuspected for decades in one of the nation's most haunting missing-child cases, has been convicted nearly 38 years after 6-year-old Patz disappeared in New York City. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)
People walk past a street shrine to six-year-old Etan Patz, who went missing in 1979, set in front of the building where suspect Pedro Hernandez confessed to having strangled the boy in New York on May 29, 2012. (EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP/GettyImages/Courtesy)

Overview

  • On July 21 the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned Pedro Hernandez’s 2017 federal conviction, finding that the trial judge gave prejudicial jury instructions.
  • The ruling orders a retrial within a reasonable period or Hernandez’s immediate release if prosecutors choose not to retry the case.
  • Hernandez was serving a 25-years-to-life sentence based largely on his 2012 confession after a seven-hour interrogation.
  • Defense experts and the appeals court highlighted Hernandez’s low IQ, mental health issues and suggestibility as factors that could have undermined the reliability of his confession.
  • The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office is reviewing the decision and must decide whether to pursue a new trial or drop the charges in the decades-old disappearance.