The United States Supreme Court has reversed a lower court's decision, thereby upholding the conviction of Pedro Hernandez for the 1979 kidnapping and murder of Etan Patz.

美國最高法院推翻了下級法院的決定，從而維持了 Pedro Hernandez 針對 1979 年綁架及謀殺 Etan Patz 的定罪。

The judicial determination resulted from a 6-3 vote to overturn a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. The appellate court had previously vacated Hernandez's 2017 conviction on the grounds that the trial judge provided an insufficient response to a jury inquiry regarding the admissibility of multiple confessions. Specifically, the judge had stated that the rejection of an initial, pre-Miranda confession did not necessitate the rejection of subsequent admissions. The Second Circuit characterized this brevity as prejudicial; however, the Supreme Court concluded that the appellate panel had exceeded its statutory authority.

這次司法裁定源於一次 6 比 3 的投票，推翻了美國第二巡迴上訴法院的裁決。上訴法院此前撤銷了 Hernandez 2017 年的定罪，理由是審理法官對陪審團關於多份口供可接納性的詢問，回應不足。具體而言，法官當時表示，拒絕最初一份在米蘭達權利告知前的口供，並不必然導致後續承認內容被拒絕。第二巡迴法院將此種簡短視為具有偏見；然而，最高法院結論認為，上訴庭已超出其法定權限。

Central to the Court's reasoning was the application of a 1996 federal law designed to restrict federal habeas review of state criminal proceedings. The majority asserted that federal courts are prohibited from disturbing state-court convictions based on independent evaluations of evidentiary reliability. This legal framework effectively precluded the Second Circuit from second-guessing the state's judgment, regardless of any perceived doubts concerning the confessions.

法院推理的核心在於應用一項 1996 年的聯邦法律，旨在限制聯邦對州刑事程序的人身保護令審查。多數意見主張，聯邦法院被禁止基於對證據可靠性的獨立評估而干擾州法院的定罪。這一法律框架有效地阻止了第二巡迴法院對州政府判決的重新評估，無論對口供存在何種疑慮均然。

Stakeholder positions remain polarized. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg characterized the appellate court's previous reversal as being based on a 'slender reed,' arguing that the ruling ignored the comprehensive nature of the five-month trial and its 66 witnesses. Conversely, defense counsel Harvey Fishbein and Alice Fontier maintain that Hernandez is innocent, attributing his confessions to mental illness and hallucinations, and noting that police interrogation persisted for approximately seven hours prior to the administration of Miranda rights.

利害關係人的立場依然兩極分化。曼哈頓區檢察官 Alvin Bragg 將上訴法院之前的撤銷描述為基於「纖細的蘆葦」，認為該裁決忽略了為期五個月且有 66 名證人的全面審理。相反，辯護律師 Harvey Fishbein 和 Alice Fontier 主張 Hernandez 是無辜的，將其口供歸因於精神疾病和幻覺，並指出警方在告知米蘭達權利前已進行了約七小時的盤問。

Pedro Hernandez will remain incarcerated at the Elmira Correctional Facility, with parole eligibility scheduled for 2037.

Pedro Hernandez 將繼續被監禁於 Elmira 感化院，預計於 2037 年符合假釋資格。