"Judge sees confession tape in ’79 missing boy case" Associated Press September 16, 2014
NEW YORK — After the videotape starts, the 53-year-old calmly tells investigators how he choked 6-year-old Etan Patz in the basement of a Manhattan convenience store on May 25, 1979. He describes putting the boy, who was still alive, into a plastic bag, then putting the bag inside a box and dumping it nearby.
‘‘I was nervous; my legs were jumping,’’ Pedro Hernandez said. ‘‘I wanted to let go, but I just couldn’t let go. I felt like something just took over me. I don’t know what to say. Something just took over me, and I was just choking him.’’
The tape, made in 2012, was played at a hearing Monday to determine whether the confession can be used as evidence at Pedro Hernandez’s murder trial, not whether the statements are true.
It was the first time the public could hear Hernandez, who has pleaded not guilty, talk in his own words about the case.
Judge Maxwell Wiley must decide whether Hernandez was properly advised of his rights and is mentally capable of understanding them.
Etan became one of the first missing children to be pictured on a milk carton, and the day he disappeared, May 25, became National Missing Children’s Day. His body has never been found.
His parents were in court Monday, the first time they have appeared publicly since Hernandez was arrested two years ago. The father, Stan, watched stoically while the boy’s mother, Julie, left before the tape began.
On the video, Hernandez talks about his family and his medical history; he is HIV-positive, suffers back problems, and is bipolar.
Hernandez’s lawyer, Harvey Fishbein, argued his client falsely confessed and lacks the mental ability to understand his rights.
He described Hernandez’s demeanor on camera as exhausted from hours of questioning.
--more--"
Related: Another Patzy?
Yes, but if it gives certain chosen ones piece of mind frame the f***er. The JU$tice in AmeriKa these days.
