LOWER MANHATTAN — A new lead prosecutor has been tapped to retry the murder case against Pedro Hernandez, the former store clerk accused of strangling 6-year-old Etan Patz 35 years ago in the basement of a SoHo bodega, the Manhattan District Attorney's office said.
Longtime assistant district attorney Joel Siedemann will take the helm of the much-publicized case, which ended in a mistrial in May.
He's replacing Joan Illuzi-Orbon, who resigned last month to run for the district attorney in Staten Island, her home borough. Stan Patz, the father of Etan, has endorsed Illuzi-Orbon, the Republican nominee.
Orbon had worked as a Manhattan prosecutor for 27 years.
A mistrial was declared on May 8 in the 35-year-old disappearance case of Etan, after one lone juror refused to convict Pedro Hernandez in the boy’s death.
Hernandez admitted to killing the boy in 2012, but his defense team had argued his confession was false.
Hernandez is scheduled to appear in court Wednesday for a scheduling conference.
