WASHINGTON — The United States Supreme Court has restored the murder conviction of the man found guilty in connection with the 1979 disappearance of 6-year-old Etan Patz, the New York City boy whose case helped launch the nationwide missing children’s awareness movement.
In a 6-3 decision handed down Monday, the justices sided with New York prosecutors who had asked the high court to reverse a federal appeals ruling that had thrown out the conviction. The court’s three liberal justices voted in dissent.
The defendant, Pedro Hernandez, had already been tried twice. His first trial in 2015 ended without a verdict after jurors deadlocked. A second jury convicted him in 2017. That conviction was later overturned by a unanimous panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, which found fault with how the trial judge responded to a question from deliberating jurors. Prosecutors had been gearing up for a third trial before Monday’s ruling.
During the 2017 deliberations, jurors posed a complex question to the judge: if they determined that Hernandez had not confessed voluntarily before being read his rights, were they required to throw out his other confessions as well? The judge’s response was brief — simply, “the answer is no” — and the jury proceeded to convict. The appeals court later ruled that jurors deserved a more thorough explanation, one that included the option of disregarding all of the confessions.
The Supreme Court disagreed with that reasoning. In an unsigned opinion, the justices said federal courts should not override state court decisions under a 1996 federal law specifically designed to limit federal oversight of state criminal proceedings. “The Second Circuit exceeded its authority in holding that Hernandez is entitled to relief,” the court wrote.
Manhattan’s top prosecutor had previously criticized the basis for overturning the conviction as “a slender reed” that effectively dismissed a five-month trial involving 66 witnesses.
Hernandez admitted to the crime during police questioning, though his attorneys have long argued the confession was false, the product of a mental illness that at times caused him to experience hallucinations. Defense lawyers also pointed out that officers questioned him for roughly seven hours before advising him of his rights and recording the interview. Hernandez then repeated his confession on tape at least two more times.
Etan disappeared on May 25, 1979, while making his way to a downtown Manhattan school bus stop. Hernandez, who lived in Maple Shade, New Jersey, was working at a nearby convenience store at the time but did not come under suspicion until 2012.
Etan Patz was among the very first missing children to have his face printed on milk cartons, and the date of his disappearance has since been recognized as National Missing Children’s Day.
Hernandez, now 64 years old, remains in prison serving a sentence of 25 years to life.
