Renewed Legal Proceedings in the Etan Patz Case
The long-standing case of Etan Patz, a six-year-old boy who disappeared in 1979 while walking to his school bus stop in New York, is set to continue with a third trial. A judge rejected a request to dismiss charges against Pedro Hernandez, a former store clerk accused of the crime.
Pedro Hernandez, now 65, has been incarcerated since his arrest in 2012. He is scheduled to appear in court again in June for a status update, although no specific trial date has been announced yet.
Etan’s case was significant as he was one of the first missing children to have his photo printed on milk cartons. The date of his disappearance, May 25, was later designated as National Missing Children’s Day.
Judge Michele Rodney dismissed the defense’s argument that the prolonged period before Hernandez was charged would hinder his right to a fair trial. “The court will carefully work, together with the parties, to ensure that jurors are selected who promise to be fair and to consider only the evidence and the law, despite what they have learned about the case from the media,” Judge Rodney stated.
Following the ruling, Hernandez’s legal team chose not to comment, and the prosecution also did not provide an immediate response.
Hernandez, who was 19 at the time of Etan’s disappearance, worked as a clerk in a local store. He became a suspect years later after a tip-off led investigators to learn that he had allegedly confessed to various people about killing a child in New York.
During interrogation, Hernandez told police that he had lured Etan to the store basement with a soda, where he then strangled him. This confession came after seven hours of questioning, and before he was informed of his Miranda rights. Later, he reiterated his confession on video, saying, “Something just took over me.”
Defense attorneys argue that Hernandez’s confessions were the result of a mentally ill and intellectually limited individual being overwhelmed by the media attention surrounding the case.
The case has seen previous trials; the first in 2015 ended in a hung jury, while a subsequent trial in 2017 resulted in a conviction. However, a federal appeals court overturned this conviction, citing the trial judge’s mishandling of a jury question regarding the validity of Hernandez’s confession.
The Manhattan district attorney’s office has committed to retrying the case, while also petitioning the U.S. Supreme Court to reinstate Hernandez’s conviction. The Supreme Court has not yet decided if it will review the case.
