MANHATTAN — There will be a second trial in the Etan Patz case, Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance announced on MSNBC Monday.
A mistrial was declared on May 8 in the 36-year-old disappearance case of 6-year-old Etan, after one lone juror refusing to convict Pedro Hernandez in the boy’s death.
“Victims should not believe that law enforcement forgets about what happened to them or to their families simply because of the passage of time,” Vance said on MSNBC’s The Cycle. “I intend to retry the case. And I think the evidence put in by our prosecutors was compelling and it was clear.”
The official announcement is expected to come during a June 10 court date.
Juror Adam Sirois said because of Hernandez’s history of mental health issues he could not believe beyond a reasonable doubt that the man lured Etan into a bodega basement and then strangled the boy.
"Ultimately, I could not find enough evidence that wasn't circumstantial," Sirois said after deliberating with other jurors for 18 days. "I couldn't convict."
Etan disappeared in 1979 while he walking to his school bus stop in SoHo alone for the first time.
Hernandez, who worked at a bodega along Etan’s route to the bus stop, allegedly confessed to killing a child several times throughout the years.
A relative contacted police in 2012 and told them about the admissions. Hernandez then gave a videotaped confession to police.
His defense attorney argued that Hernandez suffered from a low IQ and hallucinations and that his confession was coerced by investigators.
