Mistrial Declared in 1979 Case of Missing NYC Boy Etan Patz

[Princess Turandot]

Source: ABC News

The murder trial of the man accused in the disappearance of first-grader Etan Patz ended Friday with the jury hopelessly deadlocked after 18 days of deliberations, leaving unresolved a case that has haunted New York City for 36 years.

Jurors said for a third time that they were hopelessly deadlocked in the case against Pedro Hernandez, and the judge declared a mistrial. The Maple Shade, New Jersey, man was a teenage stock boy at a Manhattan convenience store when 6-year-old Etan went missing May 25, 1979.

Prosecutors have asked to set a new trial date. Hernandez will remain in jail.

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/jury-1979-missing-boy-etan-patz-case-deadlocked-30910582

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This was one of the longest jury deliberations in NYC history. There's no word yet on the split.

It was a very tough case: there was a confession by Hernandez, a man described as being mildly schizophrenic but no physical evidence or witnesses of the crime, since the child literally disappeared into thin air. There was also another likely suspect, a convicted pedophile named Jose Ramos who became a suspect in 2001, when a connection was discovered between him and a babysitter used by a friend of Etan's. (Ramos had met Etan.) Ramos had made self-incriminating statements about the case: The Patz family went so far as to sue him for wrongful death in 2004, although he was never tried in criminal court.

It will be interesting to hear from the jury. He had an excellent attorney, Harvey Fishbein.

[iandhr]

1. That I heard about this case on the news a few days ago.

There was a viable alternate suspect. I guess thats why there was a mistrial.

[former9thward]

2. Judge Rules That a Convicted Molester, Now in Prison, Is Responsible for Etan Patz's Death

A judge in Manhattan has ruled that a convicted pedophile serving time in a Pennsylvania prison is responsible for the death of Etan Patz, the 6-year-old SoHo schoolboy whose disappearance in 1979 haunted New York City, drew national attention and helped galvanize the missing-children's movement.

In a one-paragraph decision dated April 19, Justice Barbara R. Kapnick of State Supreme Court granted a judgment in the wrongful death lawsuit by the Patz family against the defendant, Jose A. Ramos, because he did not comply with an order she made more than a year ago to answer questions under oath about Etan's disappearance. The decision became public yesterday.

Mr. Ramos, 59, has been the lead suspect in the case for years, but scant evidence has ever been discovered to link him to the disappearance of Etan, who was on his way to school on May 25, 1979, when he was last seen. Etan's case was among the first involving missing children to attract national -- even international -- attention. Etan vanished in a time before pictures of missing children regularly appeared on milk cartons and billboards, and his case helped build a movement. In recognition of the Patz case, President Ronald Reagan declared May 25 National Missing Children's Day.

Mr. Ramos is in prison in Dallas, Pa., for sexually molesting an 8-year-old boy in an unrelated case.


http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/05/nyregion/judge-rules-that-convicted-molester-now-prison-responsible-for-etan-patz-s-death.html

It would seem there is room for reasonable doubt in this case.