A man charged with murder decades after one of the nation's most infamous child disappearances can be brought to trial, a judge ruled Wednesday, turning down the man's claim that the case was too thin to proceed.
In a case that hinges on a disputed confession, the judge said there was enough evidence to sustain the charges against Pedro Hernandez of Maple Shade, N.J. He is accused of killing 6-year-old Etan Patz, last seen walking to his Manhattan school bus stop in 1979.
The ruling propels the case toward a trial that would likely revolve around whether Hernandez' confession amounts to a mentally ill man's imaginings, as his defense claims.
"We're prepared to move forward to trial and show the people of New York that Pedro Hernandez had nothing to do with whatever happened to Etan Patz in 1979," defense lawyer Harvey Fishbein said after court.
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