GIST: "Jurors considering a murder charge against the man who confessed to killing Etan Patz, whose 1979 disappearance changed the way the United States responds to missing children, began their seventh day of deliberations on Thursday. The panel at state Supreme Court in Manhattan resume their discussions in the kidnapping and murder trial of Pedro Hernandez, 54, a former deli worker in the Soho neighborhood in Manhattan where the 6-year-old boy lived.........Hernandez's defense maintains he is mentally ill and that the confession he gave police in May 2012 was coerced. They say the real culprit is Jose Ramos, the longtime prime suspect whose girlfriend once walked Patz and his friends home from school. Ramos is a convicted child molester in prison in Pennsylvania. The prosecution says Hernandez is not mentally ill but is a cunning killer whose confession was voluntary.........The jurors also asked Judge Maxwell Wiley for a list of all the witnesses and exhibits from more than two months of testimony in the trial. More than 50 witnesses testified. One the earliest was the boy's mother, Julie Patz, who took the stand in January."
The entire story can be found at:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/23/us-usa-crime-patz-idUSKBN0NE1QJ20150423
Update: Pretty fascinating stuff: CBS reports jury has asked for a computer with Excel to organize their material.
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2015/04/23/etan-patz-murder-trial-deliberations-day-7/
Update: No verdict after week's deliberations: Reuters; "Hernandez's defense maintains he is mentally ill and that his confession was coerced. His lawyers have said the real culprit is Jose Ramos, long a prime suspect in the disappearance. His girlfriend once walked Patz and his friends home from school. Ramos is a convicted child molester now serving a prison sentence in Pennsylvania. During deliberations on Thursday, the jurors asked to review a videotaped interview of Ramos by a prosecutor. The interview, which was presented as evidence in Hernandez's trial, followed a 1982 incident in which Ramos allegedly tried to lure two boys into a drainpipe in a New York City park where he was living. In the video, Ramos said he knew of Patz through his girlfriend but had never met the boy. The jury was scheduled to resume on Friday morning. The panel has asked for a rereading of all the testimony by a former federal prosecutor and a former special agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, both of whom worked on the Patz case and recommended prosecuting Ramos. "I don't know how you can look at Ramos, and the evidence against Ramos, and be able to ignore Ramos in this case," Hernandez' defense attorney Harvey Fishbein said outside the courtroom. "In order to convict Pedro Hernandez, they have to exclude Ramos. I think that's a very difficult thing to do," he said.Patz was never found, and a court in 2001 declared him legally dead."
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/23/us-usa-crime-patz-idUSKBN0NE1QJ20150423
Related story: No verdict reached: Jurors return to court on Monday:
http://www.njherald.com/story/28893720/no-verdict-yet-in-1979-missing-boy-case-jurors-back-monday
PUBLISHER'S NOTE:
Dear Reader. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog. We are following this case.
I have added a search box for content in this blog which now encompasses several thousand posts. The search box is located near the bottom of the screen just above the list of links. I am confident that this powerful search tool provided by "Blogger" will help our readers and myself get more out of the site.
The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at:
http://www.thestar.com/topic/
Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.ca/2013/12/the-charles-smith-award-presented-to_28.html
I look forward to hearing from readers at:
hlevy15@gmail.com.
Harold Levy; Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog;
