Prosecutors Seek to Reinstate Murder Conviction in High-Profile Case
Prosecutors in New York have filed a petition with the Supreme Court to restore the murder conviction of Pedro Hernandez, a former bodega clerk connected to the 1979 disappearance of six-year-old Ethan Patz. This move comes after a federal court overturned Hernandez’s conviction in July, surprising many observers.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office has requested that the Court of Appeals refrain from enforcing the recent decision to nullify Hernandez’s conviction, as detailed in a court filing obtained by the Post on Sunday.
In its ruling, a panel of three judges from the Second Circuit ordered Hernandez, who was serving a 25-year prison sentence, to be released unless he is retried “within a reasonable period.” Yet, prosecutor Stephen Cress argues that this ruling involves “substantial legal issues” that warrant a Supreme Court review.
The DA’s office has expressed its commitment to pursuing a Supreme Court review, underscoring the complexity of the case.
Cress noted that the appeals court had sent the case back to a lower federal court for retrial and has given until October 20 for the Supreme Court to decide its involvement. Should the High Court take on the case, it may delay the retrial for an indefinite time.
Now 64, Hernandez had claimed that the judge’s instructions during his trial were improper and may have influenced the outcome. His lawyers have highlighted that the state courts found this error to be inconsistent with established federal law and identified it as not harmless.
Hernandez has been a suspect in the case for over three decades since the young boy disappeared from Soho Street on May 25, 1979. Ethan’s case gained national attention, especially after he became one of the first missing children featured on a milk carton, with May 25 eventually designated as Missing Children’s Day.
Hernandez was not labeled a suspect until 2012, when he reportedly confessed in a prayer group about harming a child. During a subsequent videotaped interrogation, he claimed he had strangled Ethan, saying, “Something took over me.” However, no physical evidence has ever linked him to the disappearance, and his first trial ended in a mistrial in 2015.
After a retrial in 2017, Hernandez was convicted of kidnapping and murder, receiving a maximum sentence of 25 years. During deliberations, a note from the judge raised questions about the admissibility of Hernandez’s confessions, specifically regarding a confession made prior to being read his Miranda rights.
The judge’s response to that inquiry suggested the jury could still consider Hernandez’s confessions, leading to further deliberations that concluded with a guilty verdict a week later. Hernandez’s legal team argues that his confession stemmed from delusions linked to a mental illness, adding another layer of complexity to an already intricate case.
