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 A Manhattan judge will decide whether the confession taped by
police in 2012 will be allowed as evidence against Pedro Hernandez,
who is accused of kidnap and murder.
Patz disappeared on his way to school on May 25, 1979, near his home
in Manhattan's SoHo neighborhood. It was the first time he had been
allowed to walk alone to a school bus stop.
The search for the boy gripped the city. Patz was one of the first
children pictured on the side of milk cartons as part of an appeal
for information on missing children.
Hernandez's defense attorney argues his client does not understand
his legal rights. The attorney, Harvey Fishbein, said Hernandez
suffered from mental illness including hallucinations and was
borderline mentally handicapped.
In the confession, Hernandez, 53, described luring the boy into a
SoHo deli where he worked with the offer of a cold soda.
The tape was played in state Supreme Court before Justice Maxwell
Wiley. It was the first time it had been shown in public.
Patz' parents were in court, although his mother left before the
video was shown.
Hernandez said he took Patz to the basement and strangled him.
"I grabbed him by the neck and started to choke him. I was nervous,
my legs were jumping and wanted to let go but I couldn't let go,"
Hernandez said. "It was like something took over me."
Hernandez said the boy fell to the floor and that he knew he was
still alive because he was gasping and his legs were moving.
He said he put the boy in a garbage bag, which he put in a box and
carried on his shoulder to an alley a couple blocks away.
He said he left the box in the alley and went back to work. When he
returned the next day, he said the box was gone.
Patz's body was never found, but he was legally declared dead in
2001.
'WASN'T THINKING RIGHT'
On the videotape, Hernandez spoke softly and calmly without any
apparent emotion.
"Mentally I was like, I feel bad and I don't feel bad. Half and
half," he said. "I wasn't really thinking right at the time."
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In court, clad in an orange jumpsuit, Hernandez also betrayed no
feelings.
He offered differing recollections on the tape of what he had
intended when he approached Patz on the sidewalk.
At one point, he indicated he did not have any violent intentions,
but said later under police questioning: "My mind was already made
up what I was going to do."
He told police he had been diagnosed with manic depression and
schizophrenia.
His lawyer argued Hernandez was questioned for several hours before
police read him his rights and made the videotape, which he said was
filled with "the impossible" and "the highly improbable."
The hearing was set to resume on Tuesday and expected to take
several weeks.
Police got a tip about Hernandez, who was living in Maple Shade, New
Jersey, a month after authorities in April 2012 excavated the
basement in another SoHo building, which failed to yield clues.
The tip said Hernandez told family members as far back as 1981 he
had killed a child in New York, police said.
(Writing by Ellen Wulfhorst; Editing by Cynthia Osterman and Peter
Cooney)
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