US Appeals Court Reverses 1979 Kidnapping Conviction

The conviction of a former Manhattan bodega clerk who was found guilty of kidnapping and killing 6-year-old Ethan Patz, whose 1979 disappearance heightened national anxieties about missing and abducted children, was reversed by a federal appeals court on Monday.

Pedro Hernandez, who is serving a 25-year-to-life prison sentence, was ordered to be released from custody by a three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unless the state gives him a new trial within a period that a federal judge deems “reasonable.”

The decision to seek what would be a third trial in a case that has been pending for almost 25 years and was first brought by Bragg’s predecessor, Cyrus Vance, will be made by the office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

Emily Tuttle, a DA’s office representative, stated that “we are reviewing the decision.”

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Appeals Court Cites Jury Instruction Error

In a 51-page answer to a habeas petition he filed, the appellate court agreed with Hernandez, holding that a state trial judge’s instruction to jurors during their deliberations violated federal law and, as a result, influenced the defendant’s decision.

Hernandez’s confessional statements, which he made while being questioned by detectives for hours without a lawyer present, were the subject of the instruction in question.

The 64-year-old Hernandez was convicted in 2017 of the kidnapping and murder of Patz, who disappeared almost 40 years ago on May 25, 1979, when he was walking alone for the very first time to a school bus stand two blocks from his home in Manhattan’s SoHo district.

In an attempt to spark investigation leads, the boy, who was never located, became one of the first missing children whose faces would later be used as emblems emblazoned on the sides of milk containers to publicize their absence.

A Case That Gripped the Nation for Decades

Up until Hernandez’s capture by authorities in May 2012, the Patz case’s mystery captivated American media and remained one of the nation’s most well-known child disappearances.

The 2016–2017 trial, Hernandez’s second after the first, which resulted in a hung jury in 2015, was mostly based on his alleged confessions due to the lack of tangible evidence and current witnesses in the case.

Hernandez, who was 18 at the time and worked in a bodega close to the bus stop, told investigators that he strangled the boy before putting his body in a box that was left in a trash collection area outside the business.

His attorneys contended that the admission was the consequence of both police pressure and a serious mental illness that affected his reality perceptions and made him particularly vulnerable to hallucinations and confessional delusions.

Confession and Miranda Rights in Question

According to case files, Hernandez initially admitted to the crime without being advised of his so-called Miranda rights, which include the protection from self-incrimination and the right to counsel. He was then videotaped twice making confessional statements after being informed of his rights and agreeing to waive them.

In a note to the court on the second day of the 2017 trial, the jury asked if they had to ignore the two videotaped confessions if they found that the first, non-Mirandized one was involuntary.

The appeals court determined that the judge’s response, “The answer is, no,” was both improper and “manifestly prejudicial.” Seven additional days of deliberation resulted in the return of the decision against Hernandez.

Other Suspects and Remaining Doubts

According to a description of the case in the appeals court opinion, jurors finally rejected “substantial evidence” put forth by the defense that pointed to Jose Ramos, a convicted pedophile and Patz’s babysitter’s boyfriend, as another guy who had long been regarded as a suspect.