Supreme Court reinstates murder conviction in case of Etan Patz, missing New York City boy
The justices said federal courts overstepped by overturning the 2017 verdict, ending the possibility of a third trial for the 64-year-old defendant.
- The Supreme Court reinstated the murder conviction of Pedro Hernandez for the 1979 disappearance of 6-year-old Etan Patz, voting 6-3 to reverse a lower court decision on Monday.
- A New York-based appeals court, The Second Circuit, had previously reversed the conviction, arguing the judge failed to properly instruct jurors regarding Hernandez's confessions; The Supreme Court ruled federal courts should not second-guess state trials.
- Hernandez, a Maple Shade, New Jersey, resident, has served part of a 25-year sentence; following a 2015 mistrial, a different panel convicted him in 2017 after a five-month trial featuring 66 witnesses.
- Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg had criticized the lower court's ruling as a "slender reed" that ignored the extensive trial record, while prosecutors had been preparing to retry Hernandez for a third time.
- Etan Patz vanished in 1979 while walking to His Manhattan bus stop, and His disappearance became a national symbol, with the date later recognized as National Missing Children Day.
134 Articles
134 Articles
Supreme Court Restores Conviction in 1979 Murder of Etan Patz
NEW YORK — The Supreme Court on Monday reversed a lower court decision that had reopened the case of the man convicted in the killing of Etan Patz, a 6-year-old boy whose 1979 abduction in Manhattan reshaped American childhoods. The court’s unsigned opinion restores the conviction of the man, Pedro Hernandez, who the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had said last year was entitled to a new trial. The three liberal justices — Sonia Sotomayor, El…
High court reinstates Hernandez murder conviction in Patz case
The Supreme Court reinstated a murder conviction in the 1979 disappearance of 6-year-old Etan Patz on Monday morning. The justices ruled 6-3, with all three liberal judges dissenting. Prosecutors had been working to try suspect Pedro Hernandez for a third time after his first trial ended in a mistrial. A U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit had unanimously reversed Hernandez’s murder and kidnapping conviction in the second trial because of…
What to Know About the 1979 Murder of Etan Patz, Who Disappeared on His Way to Bus Stop
Nearly 50 years after Etan Patz's disappearance, the U.S. Supreme Court has reinstated Pedro Hernandez's 2017 murder conviction for the 1979 killing of the 6-year-old boy, whose case haunted New York.
U.S. Supreme Court reinstates murder conviction of alleged killer in case of missing NYC boy Etan Patz
The U.S. Supreme Court Monday reinstated the murder conviction of Pedro Hernandez in the contentious case of Etan Patz, the New York City child whose 1979 disappearance gripped the nation as authorities struggled for decades to find a suspect. In a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court reinstated Hernandez’s 2017 conviction at the request of the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, which petitioned the country’s highest court to do so late last year …
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