🚨 SH0CKING NEWS — THE SUPREME COURT’S DECISIVE MOV...

🚨 SH0CKING NEWS — THE SUPREME COURT’S DECISIVE MOVE IN THE ETAN PATZ CASE IS DRAWING ATTENTION ACROSS AMERICA

Pedro Hernandez, who was convicted of murdering the 6-year-old boy in 1979, will remain in prison, the Supreme Court has ruled.

Etan Patz; Pedro Hernandez.Credit : AP (2)

The Supreme Court reinstated the conviction of the man who confessed to killing 6-year-old Etan Patz in 1979, reversing a New York federal appeals court decision that would have granted him a new trial.

In what became one of the most highly-publicized missing children’s cases in U.S. history, Etan vanished after leaving his family’s apartment in lower Manhattan on May 25, 1979, to walk to the school bus stop.

On his way, walking alone to the bus for the first time, Etan stopped to buy a drink at a bodega where Pedro Hernandez, then 18, worked. He was never seen alive again.

Authorities searched tirelessly for the boy, who became the face of missing children when his image was placed on milk cartons across the nation.

Etan’s body was never found and the case eventually went cold.

The case was resurrected in 2012, however, when Hernandez’s brother-in-law told authorities that Hernandez, now 64, had confessed to strangling a boy many years before.

Questioned by police, Hernandez confessed to the crime and was charged with murdering Etan after telling detectives that he lured the boy into a basement, strangled him and dumped his body in an alley.

Initially, he confessed before he had been issued his Miranda rights, including his right to an attorney or to remain silent.

Hernandez’s first trial in 2015 ended with a hung jury.

In 2017, he was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison after being convicted of second-degree murder and first-degree kidnapping.

“After all these years we finally know what dark secret you had locked in your heart,” the boy’s father, Stan Patz said at the sentencing, NBC News reported. “You threw him in the garbage. You are the monster in your nightmares. The God you pray to will never forgive you.”

Even though Hernandez had confessed, his attorneys argued that Hernandez was mentally ill when he admitted to killing the boy and appealed the case.

Conviction Overturned for Man Accused of Killing Original ‘Milk Carton’ Kid Etan Patz

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On July 21, 2025, the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in New York ruled that Hernandez must receive a new trial or be released, The New York Times was the first to report.

The trial court, the appeals court determined, did not instruct the jury “how to consider Hernandez’s post-Miranda confessions depending on what the jury determined with respect to the pre-Miranda confession” he initially gave, the Supreme Court wrote.

When the jury retired to decide on a verdict, it sent the trial court a note asking about the confession, saying, “We the jury request that the Judge explain to us whether if we find that the confession at CCPO (Camden County Prosecutor’s Office) before the Miranda rights was not voluntary, we must disregard the two later videotaped confessions at CCPO and the DA’s office, the confessions to Rosemary and Becky Hernandez, and the confessions to the various doctors.”

The State argued that the answer should be no while the defense said it should be yes, the Supreme Court wrote. The trial court judge agreed with the state and told the jury the answer was a no.

The appeals court reversed the conviction because of how the trial judge had answered the question from jurors.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg called that “a slender reed,” given the evidence and witnesses who testified during the trial.

In their unsigned opinion, the Supreme Court justices agreed in a 6-3 decision, writing, “The Second Circuit exceeded its authority in holding that Hernandez is entitled to relief,” the court wrote.

In a statement, Bragg said, “Today the Supreme Court agreed with the findings of multiple lower courts and upheld the trial conviction of Pedro Hernandez for the horrific murder of Etan Patz, which changed a generation of New Yorkers.

“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. I thank the prosecutors in my office, especially our Appellate attorneys, for their dedication and perseverance.”

SOURCE: https://people.com/etan-patz-killer-conviction-restored-12003868