PUBLISHER'S NOTE: This Blog is interested in false confessions because of the disturbing number of exonerations in the USA, Canada and multiple other jurisdictions throughout the world, where, in the absence of incriminating forensic evidence the conviction is based on self-incrimination – and because of the growing body of scientific research showing how vulnerable suspects are to widely used interrogation methods such as the notorious ‘Reid Technique.’ As all too many of this Blog's post have shown, I also recognize that pressure for false confessions can take many forms, up to and including physical violence, even physical and mental torture.
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog:
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BACKGROUND: From an earlier post of this Blog: (Link Below): "A New York federal appeals court has overturned the conviction of the man found guilty in the 1979 kidnapping and killing of 6-year-old Etan Patz, returning to the spotlight a case that drew national attention and changed the way missing-children cases are handled," Criminal Justice Journalists (President Ted Gest) reports, noting that Pedro Hernandez, a former bodega store worker, was convicted and sentenced to 25 years to life in prison in 2017 after confessing to police that he lured Etan into the store’s basement, strangled him and disposed of his body - and that on Monday, (July 21) a three-judge panel of the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the jury in Hernandez’s trial received instructions that “would have unquestionably impacted deliberations.The panel said Hernandez should be released from prison or receive a new trial, the Wall Street Journal reports."
https://draft.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/6719312292767903989
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QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Harvey Fishbein, a attorney representing Hernandez in the state proceedings, told NBC News on Friday: "We again urge the DA that justice demands there not be a 3rd trial in this now 46-year-old case against a 64-year-old man who has unjustly spent the last 13 years in prison." He noted that the July Second Circuit Court decision "set aside the conviction not because of a technicality but because the error by the trial court led to an innocent man with no prior criminal history being convicted." Hernandez’s attorneys had argued over the summer that the trial judge’s instructions were improper and tainted the verdict. Defense lawyers have also previously claimed that Hernandez is mentally ill and only confessed to the crime after he underwent hours of interrogation from police."
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PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "During deliberations, the jury sent three notes to the judge regarding Hernandez’s confession, the third asking the court to “‘explain’ whether, if the jury found that Hernandez’s un-Mirandized confession ‘was not voluntary,’ it ‘must disregard’ the later confessions, including the videotaped confessions at the local Camden County Prosecutor’s Office (‘CCPO’) and the Manhattan District Attorney’s (‘DA’s’) Office.” According to the July order, the judge did not explain and only said the “answer is no.” The jury, after nine days of deliberation, ultimately convicted Hernandez of felony murder and first-degree kidnapping, and acquitted him of intentional murder, the order said."
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STORY: "Man convicted in 1979 murder of Etan Patz must be retried by June, judge rules," by Breaking News Reporter Marleen Lenthang, Rebecca Cohen, and Senior Research Specialist Donna Mendell, published by NBC News, on October 17, 2025.
GIST: "The man convicted of kidnapping and killing 6-year-old Etan Patz in New York City in 1979 must be retried by June or be released, a federal judge in New York has ruled.
Pedro Hernandez, 64, was convicted in 2017 of kidnapping and murdering Etan and was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison after he admitted to luring the child into the basement of a bodega in the city’s SoHo neighborhood in 1979.
In July, a New York federal appeals court overturned that conviction and ruled Hernandez must receive a new trial or be released from custody. That decision was made over a flawed instruction by the New York state judge presiding over his case in response to a jury note about his alleged confessions.
Judge Colleen McMahon of Manhattan’s federal district court said in a ruling Thursday that if jury selection does not start by June 1, 2026, Hernandez must be released.
Her filing noted that prosecutors want the Supreme Court to review the 2nd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals decision.
“It is not my job to read the tea leaves and make predictions or estimates about when or how the Supreme Court will act on any petition for certiorari that may be filed,” McMahon wrote.
She did concede that there are challenges for the prosecution as just one member of the original trial team remains at the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, and the prosecution is trying to locate “dozens of long-scattered witnesses who testified at the last trial some seven years ago.”
“The mandate — my marching orders — simply directs that I set an end date by which any retrial must commence, and order Hernandez freed if a retrial does not commence by that date,” McMahon said.
Harvey Fishbein, a attorney representing Hernandez in the state proceedings, told NBC News on Friday: "We again urge the DA that justice demands there not be a 3rd trial in this now 46-year-old case against a 64-year-old man who has unjustly spent the last 13 years in prison."
He noted that the July Second Circuit Court decision "set aside the conviction not because of a technicality but because the error by the trial court led to an innocent man with no prior criminal history being convicted."
Hernandez’s attorneys had argued over the summer that the trial judge’s instructions were improper and tainted the verdict. Defense lawyers have also previously claimed that Hernandez is mentally ill and only confessed to the crime after he underwent hours of interrogation from police.
Etan went missing on May 25, 1979, while he was walking to a bus stop just two blocks from his family’s home in Manhattan, prompting a massive search around SoHo. He was declared dead in 2001, and his body was never found.
Police continued to look for the person responsible for Etan’s death and tracked down Hernandez in New Jersey in 2012 after his brother-in-law called in a tip, according to the July order.
Hernandez later confessed to kidnapping and killing the child, according to the order. He allegedly 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. He said he then put the boy’s body in a “garbage bag” before stuffing it into a box and leaving it with the trash around the corner, the order said.
While Hernandez did not offer a motive in his confession, he denied that it was sexual, according to the order.
“Hernandez, who has a documented history of mental illnesses and a low intelligence quotient (‘IQ’), initially confessed after approximately seven hours of unwarned questioning by three police officers,” the ruling from July said. “Immediately after Hernandez confessed, the police administered Miranda warnings, began a video recording, and had Hernandez repeat his confession on tape. He did so again, several hours later, to an Assistant District Attorney (‘ADA’). At trial, the prosecution discussed and played these videos repeatedly.”
Hernandez’s first trial in 2015 ended in a hung jury. His second trial began in September 2016 and focused on the alleged confession.
During deliberations, the jury sent three notes to the judge regarding Hernandez’s confession, the third asking the court to “‘explain’ whether, if the jury found that Hernandez’s un-Mirandized confession ‘was not voluntary,’ it ‘must disregard’ the later confessions, including the videotaped confessions at the local Camden County Prosecutor’s Office (‘CCPO’) and the Manhattan District Attorney’s (‘DA’s’) Office.”
According to the July order, the judge did not explain and only said the “answer is no.” The jury, after nine days of deliberation, ultimately convicted Hernandez of felony murder and first-degree kidnapping, and acquitted him of intentional murder, the order said.
Etan’s disappearance spurred the movement to put missing kids’ photos on milk cartons, making him one of the first faces to appear on the vessels in an effort to get the public’s help in tracking him down.""
The entire story can be read at:
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. 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/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog.
SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL:
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985
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FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."
Lawyer Radha Natarajan:
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
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