Hernandez was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison after he admitted to officials that he lured the child into the basement of a bodega in the city\u2019s SoHo neighborhood.<\/p>\n
But in July, a federal appeals court in New York overturned the conviction and ruled that Hernandez must receive a new trial<\/a> or be released from custody. He remains behind bars despite his conviction being overturned.<\/p>\n A street shrine to 6-year-old Etan Patz in front of the New York building where suspect Pedro Hernandez confessed to having strangled the boy in 2012. (Emmanuel Dunand \/ AFP via Getty Images file)<\/p>\n The panel ruled that the trial judge had wrongly instructed the jury. Last month, another judge gave the DA’s office until Dec. 1 to decide to retry Hernandez.<\/p>\n Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg beat the deadline by a week with Tuesday’s announcement, and Hernandez’s new trial is likely to begin by June 1.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are deeply disappointed in this decision as we remain convinced that Mr. Hernandez is an innocent man,\u201d Hernandez\u2019s lawyers<\/a> Harvey Fishbein and Alice Fontier said in a statement. “But we will be prepared for trial and will present an even stronger defense.”<\/p>\n Etan went missing on May 25, 1979, on his first solo trip <\/a>to his school bus stop two blocks from the family home. His disappearance spurred the movement to put missing kids\u2019 photos on milk cartons.<\/p>\n In 2001, Etan was declared dead. His body has never been found.<\/p>\n But police continued to look for the person responsible for Etan\u2019s death. Thirty-three years after he vanished, police got a tip from Hernandez’s brother-in-law in 2012 and tracked down Hernandez in Maple Shade, New Jersey.<\/p>\n Hernandez later confessed to kidnapping and killing the child<\/a>, court records revealed. He was alleged to have told police that he lured the boy into the bodega with the promise of a soda and instead grabbed him by the neck and fatally choked him.<\/p>\n According to court records, Hernandez said he stuffed the boy\u2019s body in a \u201cgarbage bag\u201d before he put it in a box and left it with the trash around the corner.<\/p>\n Hernandez\u2019s first trial in 2015 ended in a hung jury. His second trial, which began in September 2016, focused heavily on his confession.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/be3b126bba930108e1c46da86aa4ec39.jpeg\"\/)
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