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New York

Lawyer: Jurors in Etan Patz retrial knew old jury was there

Associated Press
Published | Updated
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    FILE- In this Feb. 14, 2017 file photo, Stan Patz, father of 6-year-old Etan Patz, who disappeared on the way to the school bus stop 38 years ago, arrives at Manhattan Supreme Court in New York. Jennifer O'Connor, a juror in the first trial for Pedro Hernandez, who was charged with Etan's murder, accompanies Patz. Hernandez's attorney stated in court papers Wednesday, March 15, 2017 that Hernandez could not have gotten a fair trial because the jury was unfairly influenced by how close former jurors were to the Patz family. Members of the first jury who voted to convict Hernandez in 2015, a case that ended in mistrial, attended the second trial and often sat with Stan Patz in court. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File) (The Associated Press)

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    FILE- In this Nov. 15, 2012, file photo, Pedro Hernandez appears in Manhattan criminal court in New York. Hernandez was convicted Feb. 14, 2014, for the 1979 kidnap and murder of 6-year-old Etan Patz. His lawyer stated in court papers filed Wednesday, March 15, 2017, that Hernandez could not have gotten a fair trial because the jury was unfairly influenced by how close former jurors were to the Patz family. Members of the first jury who voted to convict Hernandez in 2015, a case that ended in mistrial, attended the second trial and often sat with the boy's father in court. (AP Photo/Louis Lanzano, Pool, File) (The Associated Press)

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    FILE- In this Feb. 14, 2017 file photo, Tom Hoscheid, and Michael Castellon, foreground left and right, are joined by fellow jurors in the Pedro Hernandez case during a news conference after their guilty verdict in Manhattan Supreme Court in New York. Hernandez's attorney Alice Fontier stated that Castellon said he had been told by court officers during Hernandez's second trial that members of the jury from the first trial were sitting with the family. Fontier said in court papers that Hernandez could not have gotten a fair trial because the jury was unfairly influenced by how close former jurors were to the Patz family. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File) (The Associated Press)

NEW YORK – Lawyers for the man convicted in a retrial of killing 6-year-old Etan Patz in 1979 say the verdict should be thrown out because the new jury knew members of the first jury were in court.

Alice Fontier said in court papers filed Wednesday that her client Pedro Hernandez could not have gotten a fair trial. She said at least two jurors deliberating at the retrial knew about former jurors who attended proceedings and sat with Stan Patz, Etan's father. Hernandez was convicted Feb. 14 of murder.

Etan's case captivated the nation. He was one of the first children to be pictured on milk cartons after he vanished May 25, 1979 on his way to school.

Fontier says a court officer told the new jury that the old jury was there.