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| Prosecution Rests in Retrial of Etan Patz Murder Case | Prosecution Rests in Retrial of Etan Patz Murder Case |
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| The prosecution started its case with a mother recounting the last moments she spent with her young son, seeing him off one morning in 1979 on the short walk from his family’s loft in Manhattan to the school bus stop alone for the first time. The 6-year-old boy, Etan Patz, left with his toy cars in his tote bag, she recalled, and a dollar bill in his hand so he could buy a soda at the corner bodega. | The prosecution started its case with a mother recounting the last moments she spent with her young son, seeing him off one morning in 1979 on the short walk from his family’s loft in Manhattan to the school bus stop alone for the first time. The 6-year-old boy, Etan Patz, left with his toy cars in his tote bag, she recalled, and a dollar bill in his hand so he could buy a soda at the corner bodega. |
| On the witness stand, his mother, Julie Patz, described her horror as she learned later that day that Etan had never made it to the bus, his disappearance setting off a wave of fear through parents well beyond New York. | On the witness stand, his mother, Julie Patz, described her horror as she learned later that day that Etan had never made it to the bus, his disappearance setting off a wave of fear through parents well beyond New York. |
| On Monday, more than a month later, prosecutors rested their case in the retrial of Pedro Hernandez on charges of kidnapping and murder, arguing that Mr. Hernandez lured Etan into the basement of the bodega and strangled him, and has been racked with guilt ever since. | On Monday, more than a month later, prosecutors rested their case in the retrial of Pedro Hernandez on charges of kidnapping and murder, arguing that Mr. Hernandez lured Etan into the basement of the bodega and strangled him, and has been racked with guilt ever since. |
| Over weeks of testimony in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, witnesses described a sweet-natured boy, small for his age, who talked of an imaginary friend; the repercussions of Etan’s disappearance on his family, those who knew him and many others who did not; and the actions of the man accused of killing him in the years after the disappearance, including emotional confessions repeated several times before his arrest. | Over weeks of testimony in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, witnesses described a sweet-natured boy, small for his age, who talked of an imaginary friend; the repercussions of Etan’s disappearance on his family, those who knew him and many others who did not; and the actions of the man accused of killing him in the years after the disappearance, including emotional confessions repeated several times before his arrest. |
| Etan’s disappearance went unresolved for decades before Mr. Hernandez was arrested in 2012, just short of 33 years later. Detectives were led to Mr. Hernandez, who was living in Maple Shade, N.J., after his brother-in-law reported his suspicions, saying Mr. Hernandez had told a prayer group years earlier that he had killed a child in New York. | Etan’s disappearance went unresolved for decades before Mr. Hernandez was arrested in 2012, just short of 33 years later. Detectives were led to Mr. Hernandez, who was living in Maple Shade, N.J., after his brother-in-law reported his suspicions, saying Mr. Hernandez had told a prayer group years earlier that he had killed a child in New York. |
| Etan’s remains were never found, and because of that, prosecutors did not have evidence from crime scenes or an autopsy to buttress their case. Though, at one point, prosecutors showed a picture of a boy about Etan’s size squeezing into a box, similar to how Mr. Hernandez had described what he did with Etan. | Etan’s remains were never found, and because of that, prosecutors did not have evidence from crime scenes or an autopsy to buttress their case. Though, at one point, prosecutors showed a picture of a boy about Etan’s size squeezing into a box, similar to how Mr. Hernandez had described what he did with Etan. |
| Prosecutors sought to portray Mr. Hernandez, 55, as someone whose unassuming demeanor jurors saw in court belied a fierce temper and mercurial nature. They also tried to show him as a deeply religious man whose guilt pushed him to leave the city to return to New Jersey within a month of Etan’s disappearance. | Prosecutors sought to portray Mr. Hernandez, 55, as someone whose unassuming demeanor jurors saw in court belied a fierce temper and mercurial nature. They also tried to show him as a deeply religious man whose guilt pushed him to leave the city to return to New Jersey within a month of Etan’s disappearance. |
| Mr. Hernandez’s own words were at the heart of the prosecution’s case, including statements made to the prayer group and to the woman he would later marry about killing a child, though with some varying details. | Mr. Hernandez’s own words were at the heart of the prosecution’s case, including statements made to the prayer group and to the woman he would later marry about killing a child, though with some varying details. |
| There were also the admissions made when he was being interrogated by the authorities around the time of his arrest, portions of which were recorded on video. Mr. Hernandez sobbed as he admitted to leading a boy from the sidewalk into the basement of the bodega on the corner of Prince Street and West Broadway, where he choked him and put his body in a box, which he left with garbage nearby. | There were also the admissions made when he was being interrogated by the authorities around the time of his arrest, portions of which were recorded on video. Mr. Hernandez sobbed as he admitted to leading a boy from the sidewalk into the basement of the bodega on the corner of Prince Street and West Broadway, where he choked him and put his body in a box, which he left with garbage nearby. |
| But, Mr. Hernandez said, he did not kill him; Etan was alive when he put him in the box. | But, Mr. Hernandez said, he did not kill him; Etan was alive when he put him in the box. |
| “I felt like something just took over me,” he said at one point. | “I felt like something just took over me,” he said at one point. |
| But his lawyers tried to discount the confessions by arguing that Mr. Hernandez has limited intelligence and a personality disorder that makes it difficult for him to distinguish between fantasy and reality. His lawyers contend he was repeating a fiction he had concocted in his mind and, in the interrogation, he was responding to pressure from detectives. | But his lawyers tried to discount the confessions by arguing that Mr. Hernandez has limited intelligence and a personality disorder that makes it difficult for him to distinguish between fantasy and reality. His lawyers contend he was repeating a fiction he had concocted in his mind and, in the interrogation, he was responding to pressure from detectives. |
| The defense has also raised the possibility of another culprit, Jose Ramos, a convicted pedophile. Mr. Ramos had a relationship with a woman, Susan Harrington, who had been hired to walk Etan and other children home from school. | The defense has also raised the possibility of another culprit, Jose Ramos, a convicted pedophile. Mr. Ramos had a relationship with a woman, Susan Harrington, who had been hired to walk Etan and other children home from school. |
| After the prosecution rested, the defense asked the judge overseeing the trial, Justice Maxwell Wiley, to dismiss the case, asserting that no evidence of the crime had been presented that corroborated Mr. Hernandez’s confessions. “We have even less here at this trial,” Harvey Fishbein, the lead defense lawyer, said. The judge denied the motion. | |
| The arguments left enough doubt for a trial against Mr. Hernandez to end last year with a deadlocked jury, with one juror declining to vote to convict. | The arguments left enough doubt for a trial against Mr. Hernandez to end last year with a deadlocked jury, with one juror declining to vote to convict. |
| One way that prosecutors diverged from the previous trial was introducing into evidence a tattered fabric mouse that had been a toy of Etan’s. In the first trial, a witness had testified that Etan had talked in the days before he vanished about going away with a friend named Johnny, who he said had a van and candy. | One way that prosecutors diverged from the previous trial was introducing into evidence a tattered fabric mouse that had been a toy of Etan’s. In the first trial, a witness had testified that Etan had talked in the days before he vanished about going away with a friend named Johnny, who he said had a van and candy. |
| The defense has suggested that Johnny was a reference to Mr. Ramos. But prosecutors argued that the mouse had morphed in Etan’s mind into an imaginary human with the name Johnny France America; that was the Johnny he had referred to. | The defense has suggested that Johnny was a reference to Mr. Ramos. But prosecutors argued that the mouse had morphed in Etan’s mind into an imaginary human with the name Johnny France America; that was the Johnny he had referred to. |
| Mr. Hernandez’s lawyers raised concerns about several hours of interrogation at the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office, near Mr. Hernandez’s home in New Jersey, that had not been recorded on video. During that time, the lawyers said, Mr. Hernandez had repeatedly asked to go home. | Mr. Hernandez’s lawyers raised concerns about several hours of interrogation at the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office, near Mr. Hernandez’s home in New Jersey, that had not been recorded on video. During that time, the lawyers said, Mr. Hernandez had repeatedly asked to go home. |
| Virginia Nguyen, an assistant district attorney in Manhattan, saw parts of the interview that were not recorded and testified recently that Mr. Hernandez, at one point, laid on the floor, in the fetal position. “He was definitely curled up,” she said. | Virginia Nguyen, an assistant district attorney in Manhattan, saw parts of the interview that were not recorded and testified recently that Mr. Hernandez, at one point, laid on the floor, in the fetal position. “He was definitely curled up,” she said. |
| But she added that the conversation continued as though “it was perfectly normal to have someone laying on the ground,” calling that “the most startling interaction.” | But she added that the conversation continued as though “it was perfectly normal to have someone laying on the ground,” calling that “the most startling interaction.” |
| Dr. Flavia Robotti, a psychiatrist, testified last week that she saw Mr. Hernandez on Rikers Island a month after his arrest. He kept praying, clutching what looked to her like a rosary. She asked him how he felt, she said, and that was enough for him to start a “monologue.” | Dr. Flavia Robotti, a psychiatrist, testified last week that she saw Mr. Hernandez on Rikers Island a month after his arrest. He kept praying, clutching what looked to her like a rosary. She asked him how he felt, she said, and that was enough for him to start a “monologue.” |
| “I’m feeling terrible. I feel I want to die,” she recalled him saying. “I felt I kept this burden inside of me all this time, all these years, and I felt I wanted to confess.” | “I’m feeling terrible. I feel I want to die,” she recalled him saying. “I felt I kept this burden inside of me all this time, all these years, and I felt I wanted to confess.” |
| Mr. Fishbein, the lead defense lawyer, asked why she did not include much of what he said in her records of the meeting. “If it is so strong and intense,” he said, “why didn’t you put it in your report?” | |
| It might be relevant in the trial, she said, but at the time, it was not germane to her care for Mr. Hernandez. | It might be relevant in the trial, she said, but at the time, it was not germane to her care for Mr. Hernandez. |
| The details were largely from her own recollection of their exchange, she said. Over years of practice, she said, the case was one of just a few where the details were so surprising that they had been ingrained in her memory. “Because of the emotional impact this had on me, and still does now,” she said, adding, “I’ve never seen any case like this.” | The details were largely from her own recollection of their exchange, she said. Over years of practice, she said, the case was one of just a few where the details were so surprising that they had been ingrained in her memory. “Because of the emotional impact this had on me, and still does now,” she said, adding, “I’ve never seen any case like this.” |