Appeals court overturns murder conviction of Etan Patz in 1979 case

UPI

5 days ago

The New York Police Department supplies this poster of Etan Patz on his way to school, on May 25, 2012. Pedro Hernandez confessed to murdering Etan Patz in 1979 and convicted. And appeals court threw out the conviction Monday. File photo by UPI | License Photo
July 21 (UPI) -- A federal appeals court has ordered a new trial or release for Pedro Hernandez, who was convicted of kidnapping 6-year-old Etan Patz in 1979 in New York.
Hernandez, now 64, was convicted in 2017 and was serving 25 years to life for the killing in SoHo in Lower Manhattan that drew national attention about the young boy's disappearance.
Etan was among the first to be portrayed on a milk carton seeking the public's help in finding him. By the mid-1990s the cartons disappeared with the advent of the AMBER Alert System.
Today is National #MissingChildrensDay On May 25, 1979, 6-year-old Etan Patz vanished on his way to the school bus. His disappearance sparked a national movement. Today, we remember the missing and continue to hold on to hope. https://t.co/HaEJVeJLO9 pic.twitter.com/ZzT8SjWoBV— National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (@NCMEC) May 25, 2025
In 1983, President Ronald Reagan declared May 25 as "National Missing Children's Day." went missing on May 25, 1979.
In a 51-page ruling, the 2nd Circuit of Appeals in New York determined that State Supreme Court Judge Maxwell Wiley during the 2017 trial gave improper instructions to the jury.
"We are reviewing the decision," Emily Tuttles, a spokeswoman for the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, said.
Hernandez has been incarcerated at the state Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemore, N.Y.
"For more than 13 years, Pedro Hernandez has been in prison for a crime he did not commit and based on a conviction that the Second Circuit has now made clear was obtained in clear violation of law," his lawyers said. "We are grateful the Court has now given Pedro a chance to get his life back, and I call upon the Manhattan District Attorney's Office to drop these misguided charges and focus their efforts where they belong: on finding those actually responsible for the disappearance of Etan Patz."
The three-judge panel agreed with the defense attorneys who contend that a jury note about his confession improperly ignored precedent from the U.S. Supreme Court.
"We conclude that the state trial court contradicted clearly established federal law and that this error was not harmless," said the opinion by Guido Calabresi, Raymond J. Lohier and Myrna Perez.
His first trial ended in a mistrial in 2015 when one holdout juror refused to convict him.
Two years later on Feb. 14, 2027, he was convicted of killing Etan as he walked alone to his school bus stop for the first time on May 25, 1979.
In May 2012, Hernandez's brother-in-law, Jose Lopez, tipped off authorities that he believed his relative was involved in the child's disappearance.
That month, New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Hernandez, who was living in Maple Shade, N.J., was in custody. He was indicted on Nov. 14, 2012.
"Im sorry, I shoke him," Hernandez, 18 at the time, wrote in a written confession.
Hernandez told investigators that he lured the boy to the basement of his shop with a promise of a soda, and then choked him to death.
He said he disposed of the body in a nearby alley though it was never found. The boy was declared dead in 2001.
The jurors sent three notes to the judge, including one asking if they found Hernandez's confession was before he was read his Miranda rights, they must disregard his confessions afterward.
The judge answered: "No."
The appeals panel said: "Despite the jury's note seeking an 'expla[nation] to how it was to assess Hernandez's subsequent statements, the trial court provided none. ... Indeed, the answer 'no' was manifestly inaccurate, dramatically so."
After nine days of deliberations, the jury found him guilty of felony murder and first-degree kidnapping. He was found not guilty of intentional murder.