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Awaiting decisionHernandez v. McCarthy (Etan Patz habeas remand)
Will Pedro Hernandez's Etan Patz murder conviction finally stand after the SCOTUS remand?
Where the case stands
The Supreme Court granted cert and summarily reversed the Second Circuit's habeas grant on June 22, 2026 (Sotomayor, Kagan and Jackson dissenting; judgment issued July 24, 2026), wiping out the order that had required retrial or release. The case is back before the Second Circuit; Hernandez's remaining habeas grounds are outstanding.
Background
Pedro Hernandez, former SoHo bodega stock clerk convicted in 2017 of the 1979 kidnapping and murder of 6-year-old Etan Patz, after a 2012 confession and a first trial that hung in 2015.
Charges
- Convicted 2017: kidnapping and felony murder of Etan Patz
The arguments
Prosecution/State: Hernandez's 2012 confessions (unwarned, then repeated post-Miranda) were valid evidence, and the jury-note instruction issue did not warrant habeas relief — the position SCOTUS accepted.
Defense: A mentally ill man's false confession drove the conviction; an alternative suspect (convicted abuser Jose Ramos) was long the prime suspect; remaining habeas grounds still entitle him to a new trial.
The record
- SCOTUS docket. Complete public docket No. 25-748 with the cert petition, briefing and the June 22, 2026 reversal.
- Confession sequence. The 7-hour unwarned interrogation followed by Mirandized re-confession — the heart of both trials and the habeas litigation.
The line-setting read at the time this market opened
The summary reversal signals a Court unreceptive to relief on the instruction issue, but the remaining grounds were never resolved; outcome genuinely open.
Awaiting decision — The Second Circuit's disposition of the remaining habeas grounds on remand. The ruling is posted here, and on the board, the moment it's confirmed by two or more independent news organizations.
Sources
Public record
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