The Supreme Court on Monday reinstated a murder conviction in the 1979 disappearance of 6-year-old Etan Patz. The justices, by a 6-3 vote, granted an appeal from New York prosecutors who had urged them to undo a federal appeals court decision that overturned the verdict, per the AP. The three liberal justices dissented. Prosecutors had been preparing to try the man, Pedro Hernandez, for a third time. His first trial in 2015 ended in a mistrial.
The unanimous panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reversed Hernandez' murder and kidnapping conviction in the second 2017 trial because of how the judge had answered a question from jurors about Hernandez's confession. "The answer is no," the judge said simply; the appeals court found the jury's question should have gotten a more fulsome answer. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg had called the basis for overturning the conviction "a slender reed" that essentially ignored a five-month-long trial with 66 witnesses. In an unsigned opinion, the Supreme Court justices ruled that the appeals court "exceeded its authority in holding that Hernandez is entitled to relief."
Case background: Hernandez, 64, has been serving a sentence of 25 years to life in prison. Hernandez admitted to the crime under police questioning, but his lawyers say he confessed falsely because of a mental illness. Etan vanished while walking to his downtown Manhattan school bus stop on May 25, 1979. Hernandez worked at a nearby convenience shop at the time, but the New Jersey resident didn't become a suspect until 2012. Etan was among the first missing children to appear on milk cartons, and the anniversary of his disappearance became National Missing Children's Day.
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