Supreme Court Reinstates Murder Conviction in 1979 Etan Patz Case

The Supreme Court voted 6-3 on June 22, 2026, to reinstate Pedro Hernandez's conviction for kidnapping and felony murder of six-year-old Etan Patz, reversing the Second Circuit's 2025 decision to overturn the verdict. Hernandez faces 25-years-to-life imprisonment. The case spans from Patz's 1979 disappearance through Hernandez's arrest in 2012 and conviction in a 2015 retrial, then appellate reversal and now reinstatement.