Judge Declares Mistrial In Etan Patz Disappearance Case After Jury Deadlocked

FILE - In this Nov. 15, 2012 file photo, Pedro Hernandez appears in Manhattan criminal court in New York. He is charged in the death of 6-year-old Etan Patz who disappeared on his way to a school bus stop more than t... FILE - In this Nov. 15, 2012 file photo, Pedro Hernandez appears in Manhattan criminal court in New York. He is charged in the death of 6-year-old Etan Patz who disappeared on his way to a school bus stop more than three decades earlier. Hernandez confessed to police in 2012. The veracity of the confession, though, is tempered by Hernandez's history of mental illness. Such frailties, experts say, raise difficult questions about whether a suspect is exercising free will in talking to police, and greatly increase the potential for false confessions. (AP Photo/Louis Lanzano, Pool, File) MORE LESS

NEW YORK (AP) — The judge in the New York murder trial involving the 1979 disappearance of 6-year-old Etan Patz says he is planning to call the deliberations to an end after jurors announced for a third time they were deadlocked.

Jurors have been deliberating the case against Pedro Hernandez since April 15. They announced they were deadlocked on April 29, Tuesday and Friday.

The judge said Friday that he planned to end deliberations. He is waiting for the jury to be brought back in to declare a mistrial.

Etan was among the first missing children pictured on milk cartons. The anniversary of his disappearance is National Missing Children’s Day.

Hernandez made a confession in 2012. His lawyers say it’s false, and they’ve pointed to another suspect who wasn’t charged.

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