Free Republic

Pedro Hernandez, the bodega clerk convicted for the 1979 murder of New York first-grader Etan Patz was sentenced on Tuesday to 25 years to life in prison, CNN reports. Hernandez, 56, was convicted of kidnapping and murder in February, nearly 40 years after the six-year-old disappeared on May 25, 1979. Etan left home to walk to a school bus stop and was not seen again. In the early 1980s, his photo appeared on milk cartons across the country, the first time the method was used to try to locate missing children. Hernandez was previously tried for the same charges in...

I knew that I would start from the presumption of innocence. I knew that because we are told we should start from that presumption. There were certainly plenty of times I think we all had during the trial — moments, just “wow” moments. Like, “Oh, my God, that throws a lot of doubt in it!” Or, “Oh, my God, he did it!” For me, there were moments — different days, different periods of time — when I could have gone either way. That’s the whole point. Then you go into deliberations.

A mistrial was declared Friday in the New York trial of the man charged with the 1979 killing of 6-year-old Etan Patz. The jury sent State Supreme Court Justice Maxwell Wiley a note -- the third since April 29 -- saying it was unable to reach a unanimous decision on the guilt or innocence of bodega worker Pedro Hernandez. On two previous occasions, including Tuesday and Friday, the judge ordered the jury to keep deliberating. A new court date has been set for June 10. It's unclear whether Hernandez will be retried. The case involves a boy whose disappearance more...

A man from Maple Shade has confessed to killing 6 year old Etan Patz in New York in 1979. New York City police commissioner Raymond Kelly said Thursday a person who’s in custody has implicated himself in the death of Patz, the 6-year-old boy whose disappearance 33 years ago on his way to school helped launch a missing children’s movement that put kids’ faces on milk cartons. The Star Ledger identifies the man as Pedro Hernandez of Maple Shade who reportedly confessed to kidnapping and strangling Patz during an interview yesterday with NYPD. Hernandez lured the boy to a nearby...

The NYPD is questioning a New Jersey man in connection with the Etan Patz case, the 6-year-old boy who vanished more than 30 years ago as he walked to the school bus from his SoHo home, NBCNewYork.com reported Thursday

NEW YORK (AP) -- The Manhattan district attorney's office is reopening the decades-old case of a missing 6-year-old boy whose photo was the first to be put on a milk carton. Etan Patz (AY'-tahn payts) vanished May 25, 1979. He was last seen walking two blocks from his lower Manhattan home to a bus stop for the ride to school.