Latest news with #ManhattanDA
Al Arabiya
5 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Appeals court orders new trial for man convicted in 1979 Etan Patz case
The man convicted of killing 6-year-old Etan Patz in 1979 was awarded a new trial Monday as a federal appeals court overturned the guilty verdict in one of the nation's most notorious missing child cases. Pedro Hernandez has been serving 25 years to life in prison since his 2017 conviction. He had been arrested in 2012 after a decadeslong haunting search for answers in Etan's disappearance on the first day he was allowed to walk alone to his school bus stop. The appeals court overturned the conviction because of an issue involving how the trial judge handled a jury note during Hernandez' 2017 trial–his second. His first trial ended in a jury deadlock in 2015. Emily Tuttle, a spokesperson for the Manhattan district attorney, said, 'We are reviewing the decision.' Harvey Fishbein, an attorney for Hernandez, declined to comment when reached Monday by phone. Hernandez was a teenager working at a convenience shop in Etan's Manhattan neighborhood when the boy vanished. Hernandez, who's from Maple Shade, New Jersey, later confessed to choking Etan, but his lawyers said he was mentally ill and his confession was false. Etan was among the first missing children pictured on milk cartons. His case contributed to an era of fear among American families, making anxious parents more protective of kids who many once allowed to roam and play unsupervised in their neighborhoods. 'Through this painful and utterly horrific real-life story, we came to realize how easily our children could disappear,' said Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr., a Democrat who made a 2009 campaign promise to revisit the case if elected. The Patzes' advocacy helped to establish a national missing-children hotline and to make it easier for law enforcement agencies to share information about such cases. The May 25 anniversary of Etan's disappearance became National Missing Children's Day.
CBS News
5 hours ago
- CBS News
Man convicted in Etan Patz's kidnapping, murder ordered to have new trial or be released
A judge ruled Monday that Pedro Hernandez, the man convicted in the 1979 disappearance of 6-year-old Etan Patz, needs to face a new trial or be released. In 2017, after two trials, Hernandez was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison on charges of second-degree murder and kidnapping in one of the most notorious missing child cases in the U.S. Hernandez's first trial in 2015 ended in a hung jury, but he was found guilty in the second trial after nine days of jury deliberation. Hernandez's attorney appealed the verdict, claiming the instructions the jury was given "ignored clearly established Supreme Court precedent and prejudice the verdict." "We conclude that the state trial court contradicted clearly established federal law and that this error was not harmless," the judge wrote, ordering the new trial or Hernandez's release. The Manhattan District Attorney's office says they are reviewing the judge's ruling. Etan vanished on May 25, 1979 while on his way to school. He was one of the first missing children to be pictured on milk cartons. The anniversary of his disappearance was designated National Missing Children's Day. Jurors spoke out about their decision back in 2017. The jury's foreman saud at the time deliberations had been difficult. "We were very nervous about making the wrong call," another juror said. Hernandez had confessed to the killing, although his attorneys argued he was mentally ill and had given false confessions. "When he went by me, I grabbed him by the neck and I started to choke him," Hernandez said on videotape on May 24, 2012. Check back soon for more on this developing story.
New York Times
6 hours ago
- New York Times
Conviction of Man in Killing of Etan Patz Is Overturned
A federal appeals court on Monday ordered that a man convicted in the disappearance of 6-year-old Etan Patz in 1979 should receive a new trial or be released. The man, Pedro Hernandez, was convicted of murder in 2017 after he confessed to luring Etan into a basement as he walked to his school bus stop alone in SoHo and attacking him. Mr. Hernandez was charged by the Manhattan district attorney's office, with his first trial in 2015 ending in a hung jury. In 2017, a Manhattan jury convicted Mr. Hernandez on the ninth day of deliberations, after which the jury foreman said 'deliberations were difficult.' Mr. Hernandez's lawyers had argued in the appeal that the trial court's instructions to the jury were improper and prejudiced the verdict. 'We conclude that the state trial court contradicted clearly established federal law and that this error was not harmless,' a three-judge appeals panel held in a ruling on Monday. Efforts to reach the Manhattan district attorney's office for comment were not immediately successful. This is a developing story and will be updated.
New York Post
2 days ago
- Politics
- New York Post
Manhattan DA quietly pulls data dashboard amid slipping convictions
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's conviction rate has plunged every year since he took office — and he's hiding the ugly numbers from the public, The Post has learned. Just 35% of felony cases – 6,871 out of 19,602 crimes – ended in convictions last year, down from 37% in 2023, 40% in 2022, and 42% in 2021 before Bragg took office, according to data from the state Division of Criminal Justice. And those numbers are way down from 2019, the last year before New York's woke discovery reform laws took effect, when 64% of felonies resulted in convictions. Advertisement 4 Alvin Bragg's conviction rate has fallen every single year since he took office. Steven Hirsch Even when the Democratic prosecutor's office did win a conviction, 66% of the time it was a charge downgraded to a misdemeanor or even a non-criminal violation. And the number of felony cases Bragg simply refused to prosecute has nearly doubled since he took over – from 7% in 2022, to 8% in 2023 and 12% in 2024. Advertisement Bragg ordered prosecutors to stop seeking prison for hordes of crimes including armed robberies and drug dealing in his Day 1 memo. 'These outcomes are by design,' Rafael Mangual, legal fellow at the Manhattan Institute, told The Post. 'Bragg's philosophy is that incarceration should be the last resort. And he won't even pursue prison terms beyond 20 years, irrespective of the offense.' Mangual says Bragg fails to acknowledge that 'prison is where we get the public safety benefits – because individuals who are currently engaged in criminal conduct are going to be taken out of commission.' 4 Felony conviction rates have dropped and refusals to prosecute have risen since Bragg took office. NY Post Design Advertisement Misdemeanor convictions are tanking too, plummeting from 24% in 2022, to 21% in 2023 and 17% in 2024, records show. Bragg declined to prosecute 9% of misdemeanors in 2022, then 19% in 2023 and 31% in 2024, according to the data. But the public would never know any of this because the DA's office quietly yanked the data dashboard from its website. 4 The data page of the Manhattan DA's website has been 'under construction' since the fall. Advertisement It's been 'under construction' since October. 'They hid it knowing that DA Bragg is going to be up for re-election,' slammed outraged West Village resident Scott Evans. 'They're hiding behind the curtain of 'there's no data to talk about.' ' Evans says he's pressed Bragg's representatives about the missing page at community meetings – only to be told they don't want the public to 'misinterpret the data.' A spokesperson for Bragg told The Post he's working with the other boroughs' DA's on how to present the data, without adding more specifics. 4 A screenshot of the Manhattan DA's data page taken on September 25, before it was taken down. Scott Evans Before it was pulled, the DA's office touted its data dashboard as 'groundbreaking.' 'The Manhattan DA's office is committed to enhancing transparency in the criminal justice system,' the website boldly used to claim. 'Our data dashboard, the first in New York State, provides the public with comprehensive data about our office's prosecutions.' Case data was updated weekly. Advertisement 'This is exactly the wrong time to take that tool away from the public, as we come into an election year and they try to evaluate whether that's the direction they want the DA's office be moving,' said Mangual.
CBS News
3 days ago
- CBS News
Dozens of propane tanks found in back of van after crash in NYC, police say
A driver is facing charges after police say they found dozens of propane tanks in the back of his van following a crash in Manhattan. Police said they responded to a crash Tuesday night at 42nd Street and 10th Avenue in midtown. The driver of the white mini van attempted to get rid of his keys and claimed he could not open the van, according to police. Police said the responding officers noticed a strong smell of gas and propane tanks in the back of the van. The FDNY was called in to remove 76 propane cylinders and 15 fuel canisters, for a total of 75 gallons of gas and 10 gallons of diesel, police said. The fire department posted four photos on social media, showing the cylinders stacked on top of each other in the back of the van, and then lined up on the street. The driver was charged with reckless endangerment and police said he was in violation of multiple fire codes. Police did not provide any details about why the man had so many tanks in his van. The Manhattan district attorney's office is now handling the case.
