But Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Michele Rodney declined to dismiss the charges against him on April 17, disagreeing with Hernandez\u2019s attorney\u2019s arguments that, because Hernandez didn\u2019t become a suspect in the case until 2012, almost four decades after Patz was killed, the pre-indictment delay was so great it showed prosecutors \u201csat idly\u201d and shouldn\u2019t be allowed to prosecute.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is true that the delay from [when] Etan Patz disappeared until [Hernandez] was arrested \u2026 was an extremely long period of time,\u201d Rodney wrote. \u201cHowever \u2026 law enforcement had no reason to suspect [Hernandez].\u201d<\/p>\n
Hernandez, now 65, became a suspect after he repeatedly confessed to police in 2012 that he had kidnapped Patz while he walked to his bus stop and killed him in a SoHo basement, an event which rattled the country when it happened. However, Hernandez\u2019s lawyers have argued that his confession was the product of psychotic delusion \u2014 and that his first confession before police came before he was told he had the right to remain silent.<\/p>\n
Harvey Fishbein, one of Hernandez\u2019s attorneys, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. He\u2019s previously called his client\u2019s conviction \u201cfundamentally flawed.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Fishbein and others have argued that Hernandez fits the profile of someone who could be prone to making false confessions, that not all of his statements matched facts of the case and that police coerced a confession out of Hernandez when he was not mentally stable.<\/p>\n
Doctors have diagnosed Hernandez with a myriad of disorders, including psychotic disorder, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, chronic mental illness and memory impairment, along with an incredibly low IQ that would mean he was \u201cfunctioning at the lowest level of intelligence compared to other people,\u201d court filings say.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Rodney denied Fishbein\u2019s requests on April 17 to admit expert testimony on memory and perception, introduce evidence that other, previous suspects in the case actually murdered Patz and to reopen a hearing on whether the statements Hernandez made to the police are admissible or not in a third trial.<\/p>\n
The judge also said he disagreed with Fishbein\u2019s arguments that the high media coverage around the case for years should be grounds for dismissal because it may have biased the jury pool, writing Friday that the court will \u201ccarefully work\u201d to ensure only who jurors \u201cpromise to be fair and to consider only the evidence and the law, despite what they have learned about the case from the media,\u201d are selected.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/patz-image.jpg\" "\\"Manhattan")
A missing-child poster from 1979 for Etan Patz that was shown to Pedro Hernandez by police during his first confession, in Camden, N.J., in 2012.Schneps Media Archives<\/p>\n
Hernandez is set to appear in court on June 1<\/a>, the date jury selection in his third trial needs to start, or else he\u2019ll be released from prison.\u00a0<\/p>\n