The Supreme Court on Monday reinstated the murder conviction of Pedro Hernandez in the 1979 disappearance of 6-year-old Etan Patz. The justices, in a 6-3 vote, granted an appeal from New York prosecutors, reversing a federal appeals court decision that had overturned the verdict. The three liberal justices dissented.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg hailed the decision, stating that his office "remained steadfast in its pursuit of justice for Etan and the Patz family and will continue to stand by this important conviction." Hernandez's attorneys expressed disappointment, maintaining their belief that "an innocent man is in jail for a crime that he did not commit."
Hernandez, 64, has been serving a sentence of 25 years to life in prison. The case has a lengthy legal history, including two previous trials. A jury was deadlocked in 2015, and a different jury convicted him in a 2017 retrial. That conviction was later reversed by a unanimous panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, which cited an insufficient response from the trial judge to a juror's question about the admissibility of confessions.
During the 2017 deliberations, jurors asked whether they must disregard other confessions if they decided Hernandez had not confessed voluntarily before being read his rights. The judge responded, "the answer is no." The appeals court found that this answer was too simplistic and should have included the possibility of discounting all confessions.
The Supreme Court, in an unsigned opinion, agreed with prosecutors that federal courts should not have overturned the state conviction under the 1996 federal law intended to limit federal court oversight of state criminal trials. "The Second Circuit exceeded its authority in holding that Hernandez is entitled to relief," the justices wrote.
Hernandez's lawyers contend that he confessed falsely to police due to a mental illness that caused hallucinations. They argue his admission came after a lengthy interrogation and before he was read his Miranda rights. Hernandez repeated his confession on tape at least twice. He worked at a convenience store near where Etan Patz disappeared on May 25, 1979, but he did not become a suspect until 2012. Etan Patz was among the first missing children featured on milk cartons, and the anniversary of his disappearance is recognized as National Missing Children's Day. Prosecutors had been preparing to try Hernandez for a third time.