The US Supreme Court on Monday reinstated the conviction of a man found guilty of kidnapping and murdering a six-year-old boy in New York 47 years ago in a case that drew nationwide attention.
The court reversed the ruling of a federal appeals court that had ordered a new trial for Pedro Hernandez, who was convicted of the 1979 murder of Etan Patz.
In a case that still haunts US parents and forever changed the handling of child abductions, Patz vanished after leaving his parents’ home in Manhattan to walk alone for the first time to the school bus stop.
Hernandez, then 18 years old, worked in a convenience store near the bus stop.
Patz’s disappearance remained unsolved for years until Hernandez’s arrest in 2012.
His first trial ended in 2015 with the jury failing to reach a unanimous verdict. He was convicted at a second trial in 2017.
But a federal appeals court ruled in July of last year that Hernandez must be released or retried because of errors in the conduct of the second trial.
The Supreme Court said the lower court had exceeded its authority, however, and restored the conviction.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg welcomed the decision.
“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,” Bragg said in a statement.
At trial, Hernandez was accused of luring Patz into the basement of the convenience store with the promise of a soda, choking him and putting his body in the trash.
While there was no material evidence against him, Hernandez confessed to the killing. He later retracted his confession and pleaded not guilty.
Patz’s disappearance shocked Americans and fueled a generation of hyper-vigilant parenting.
His parents only discovered he was missing after he failed to come home from school at the end of the day. His body was never found.
Patz was the first missing child to be featured on milk cartons as part of a nationwide search.
In 1983, US president Ronald Reagan declared the anniversary of his disappearance National Missing Children’s Day.
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