The justices ruled 6-3, with all three liberal judges dissenting. Prosecutors had been working to try suspect Pedro Hernandez for a third time after his first trial ended in a mistrial.
A U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit had unanimously reversed Hernandez’s murder and kidnapping conviction in the second trial because of how a judge answered a question from jurors.
However, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said the basis for overturning Hernandez’s conviction was a “slender reed” when the monthslong trial had over 60 witnesses.
The Supreme Court justices agreed. Their unsigned opinion stated that federal courts cannot second-guess state courts under a 1996 federal law.
“The Second Circuit exceeded its authority in holding that Hernandez is entitled to relief,” the court wrote.
Patz disappeared on his way to a bus stop in SoHo, Manhattan, on May 25, 1979, and his body was never found. Patz was declared legally dead in 2001, and the boy became one of the first children to be featured on milk cartons as part of a public service announcement series intended to raise awareness about missing children.
Convicted child sexual abuser Jose Antonio Ramos was identified as the primary suspect in 1985 but was never criminally prosecuted. Etan’s parents, Stan and Julie Patz, later dismissed the judgment against Ramos in 2015 after observing the trial of Pedro Hernandez, another suspect.
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Unlike Ramos, Hernandez wasn’t implicated in Patz’s death until 2012, when a tipster contacted police. Hernandez told detectives he lured Patz into a convenience store where he worked with the promise of soda. Hernandez said he strangled the boy and buried him in the trash.
Etan’s father reportedly watched every day of Hernandez’s trial and believed that he was guilty. The boy’s parents later had a judge throw out a wrongful death civil judgment against Ramos, according to Spectrum News.
