WASHINGTON (AP) — On Monday, the Supreme Court reinstated a murder conviction related to the 1979 disappearance of 6-year-old Etan Patz.
In a 6-3 decision, the justices sided with New York prosecutors who requested the reversal of a federal appeals court’s decision that overturned the verdict. The three liberal justices opposed the decision.
Prosecutors had been preparing to retry Pedro Hernandez for the third time after his first trial ended in a mistrial.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit had unanimously reversed Hernandez’s conviction for murder and kidnapping in the second trial, citing concerns over the judge’s response to a juror’s question.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg criticized the basis for overturning the conviction as “a slender reed,” dismissing the five-month trial with 66 witnesses.
In an unsigned opinion, the justices supported the stance that federal courts should not challenge state court decisions under a 1996 federal law aimed at reducing federal oversight of state criminal trials.
“The Second Circuit exceeded its authority in holding that Hernandez is entitled to relief,” the justices noted.
Hernandez, aged 64, is currently serving a sentence of 25 years to life in prison.
Bragg welcomed the Supreme Court’s decision, stating, “This office has 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 their disappointment with the ruling. “We firmly believe that an innocent man is in jail for a crime that he did not commit,” said lawyers Harvey Fishbein and Alice Fontier.
Despite confessing to the crime during police questioning, Hernandez’s lawyers argue that he say he confessed falsely due to a mental illness that caused hallucinations. They highlighted that his confession came after seven hours of questioning without being read his rights, followed by a recorded confession repeated at least twice on tape.
Etan disappeared while walking to his school bus stop in downtown Manhattan on May 25, 1979. Hernandez, who worked at a nearby convenience store, did not become a suspect until 2012, despite living in Maple Shade, New Jersey.
Etan was among the first missing children to appear on milk cartons, and the anniversary of his disappearance was designated as National Missing Children’s Day.
Hernandez has already faced trial twice. In 2015, a jury deadlocked in 2015, and he was convicted him at a 2017 retrial.
During deliberations in 2017, jurors posed a complex question: If they determined Hernandez’s confession was involuntary due to not being read his rights, should they dismiss his subsequent confessions? The judge at the time responded, “the answer is no,” leading to a conviction.
The appeals court overturned that verdict, stating that the jury’s question needed a more comprehensive response, potentially considering the exclusion of all confessions.
Associated Press writer Jennifer Peltz contributed to this report from New York.
