Court Orders New Trial in Etan Patz Case

A federal appeals court has overturned the conviction of Pedro Hernandez, a former bodega clerk who was serving 25 years to life for the 1979 kidnapping and murder of 6-year-old Etan Patz in New York City. The court found that flawed jury instructions during Hernandez’s 2017 trial contradicted established federal law and were not harmless, requiring a new trial or his release. Hernandez had confessed to the crime decades after it occurred, following hours of interrogation, but his defense argued he was mentally ill and the confession was false. His first trial ended in a hung jury before his conviction in the second trial. The Manhattan district attorney’s office is reviewing whether to retry the case. Etan Patz’s disappearance led to major national reforms in child safety protocols and remains one of the most significant missing child cases in U.S. history.