Prosecutors ask the Supreme Court to restore a conviction in the missing child of Etan Patz
New York (AP) – New York prosecutors said they will ask the United States Supreme Court to restore a conviction for murder in the 1979 disappearance of Etan Patz, 6, after a The Court of Appeal canceled the verdict in July.
The Manhattan district prosecutor made the disclosure in a legal file on Sunday asking the 2nd Circuit Court of American Appeals to cling to the application of his decision in the case of Pedro Hernandez. The former convenience store has become suspect more than 30 years after the first student disappeared.
The decision presents “substantial legal questions”, wrote the prosecutor Stephen Kress. The district prosecutor’s office has now “committed to requesting a Supreme Court exam,” he said.
By overthrowing the conviction, a panel of the 2nd circuit of three judges ordered Hernandez released unless it was taken up “within a reasonable time”.
Kress asked the Court of Appeal to wait for the deadline for deposit of the Supreme Court of October 20 before referring the case to a lower level federal judge to set a date again. This could be suspended indefinitely if the high court agrees to weigh on the case.
The 2nd circuit had previously granted prosecutors an extension of 30 days which was to expire on Sunday. He did not rule on the new request.
Hernandez opposes the request of the accusation for more time.
It has already been tried twice. Her 2017 conviction came after a previous jury could not reach a verdict. Now 64 years old, he served a 25 -year sentence in perpetuity.
Hernandez lawyers to say that he confessed falsely Due to a mental illness It sometimes made him hallucinate. They stressed that admission came after the police interviewed him for seven hours without reading his rights to him or registering the interview. Hernandez then repeated his tape confession, at least twice.
In question in the 2nd circuit, the appeal was the statement of the trial of the State trial to the questions of the jurors as to whether they were to ignore the confessions recorded if they found that the first, not registered, was not valid. The judge said no.
The court of appeal, to cancel the condemnation of Hernandez, said that the jury should have obtained a more in -depth explanation of his options, which could have included all the confessions.
Hernandez was a teenager working in a convenience store in the downtown Etan district, when the boy disappeared. Police met him while stopping the region, but did not suspect it before having obtained a 2012 tip that he had made comments earlier for killing a child in New York, without mentioning the name of Etan.
The case of Etan contributed to a time of fear among American families, making anxious parents more protective towards children who had been authorized to wander and play unattended in their neighborhood.
Patzes advocacy has helped establish a national hotline for missing children and facilitated the law enforcement organizations to share information on these cases. The anniversary of May 25 of the disappearance of Etan has become the national day of missing children.
