D.A. Who Led Etan Patz Case Says Conviction Reversal Came as a Shock

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Cyrus Vance prosecuted Pedro Hernandez twice. An appeals court overturned the conviction, ruling that the trial judge should not have let jurors consider an improper confession.

A man in a dark suit and blue patterned tie walks in a courtroom hallway.
Cyrus Vance said he respected the decision, but was “surprised and saddened for the Patz family.”Credit...Anthony Lanzilote for The New York Times

Hurubie Meko

July 22, 2025, 7:34 p.m. ET

Cyrus R. Vance Jr., who as Manhattan district attorney oversaw two trials in the disappearance of 6-year-old Etan Patz, said Tuesday that a federal court’s reversal of the murder and kidnapping conviction in the case “came out of left field for me.”

The verdict in Etan’s 1979 killing, which came after more than 30 years of investigation and prosecution, appeared to end a notorious case that transfixed New York City and the nation.

But on Monday, a three-judge panel overturned the conviction, ordering that the defendant, Pedro Hernandez, be given a new trial within a “reasonable period,” or be released from his 25-year-to-life prison sentence.

Mr. Vance’s case had depended heavily on several confessions by Mr. Hernandez, who has a history of mental illness. The first came before Mr. Hernandez was informed of his constitutional right to remain silent; another, which was videotaped, came shortly after. The trial judge, the appeals court found, did not appropriately instruct the jury in response to its question about the confessions.

Mr. Vance said he respected the decision by the federal judges who serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, but he was “surprised and saddened for the Patz family.”

“I still believe the decision to bring the case was absolutely the right decision,” he said, adding, “as the D.A. I was certainly convinced myself that Pedro Hernandez killed Etan Patz, and I think that today.”


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