Overview
- Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office notified the court it will retry Pedro Hernandez on second-degree murder and first-degree kidnapping charges.
- A federal appeals panel overturned Hernandez’s 2017 conviction in July after finding the trial judge gave a “clearly wrong” response to a jury note about his confessions.
- A lower court set a June 1 deadline to start jury selection or Hernandez must be released from custody.
- The prosecution’s case centers on Hernandez’s 2012 recorded confession, which the defense argues was false and coerced given his mental health issues, low IQ, and lengthy unrecorded questioning.
- Prosecutors say they are prepared to proceed and will have to reassemble witnesses decades after Etan Patz disappeared, with a court conference scheduled for December 1.