"Jurors
began deliberating the fate of the suspect in one of the most infamous
missing children cases in American history Wednesday.........Hernandez gave a surprise confession in 2012, after the
case made national news again when federal agents dug up a New York
City basement looking for Etan's remains. He was tried once before, but
the case ended in a hung jury after all but one juror voted to convict
after 18 days of deliberations. The probe had long focused on
another suspect, convicted pedophile Jose Ramos. Hernandez's attorney
Harvey Fishbein said during his closing argument Monday that Ramos was
the real killer. Ramos has said he didn't kill the boy. Over the
years, Hernandez told a friend, his ex-wife and a church group that he
had killed a young person in New York by choking and dumping the body,
though the details varied, according to trial testimony. He never
mentioned Etan by name, but his brother-in-law called police with the
tip that led law enforcement to him. Those statements to others,
the fact that he was a 19-year-old stock boy nearby when Etan vanished
and his believable confession are enough to convict, Illuzzi said.
Hernandez's description and demonstration on tape of how he choked the
boy are chillingly aligned with testimony from a pathologist who
explained how a choking person would lose consciousness. "I was afraid of what I did," Hernandez said in the videotaped confession. "So I figure if he be alive, he will put me away." Defense attorneys say the confession is the product of a vulnerable, mentally ill man who was manipulated by law enforcement."
http://abc7ny.com/news/jury-to-begin-deliberations-in-1979-etan-patz-murder-case-/1727726/