Suspect in Etan Patz case arraigned on murder charge
Pedro Hernandez was arraigned early Friday evening on a second-degree charge tied to the case of Etan Patz, the New York boy whose disappearance 33 years to the day spurred nationwide attention about missing children, CNN reported.
The suspect appeared about 6:25 p.m. Friday via video feed from Manhattan's Bellevue Hospital Center, where he is being held for evaluation and is on suicide watch, according to a law enforcement source.
Judge Matthew Sciarrino presided over the proceedings from a New York courtroom, where people watched the arraignment.
Sciarrino denied bail for Hernandez after defense attorney Harvey Fishbein said the suspect has a "long psychiatric history" including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and hallucinations. The lawyer asked that Hernandez undergo a full psychiatric evaluation, a request the judge granted.
Dressed in an orange jumpsuit and sitting at a brown table, Hernandez did not speak and showed no evident emotion during the proceedings.
The next major step in the legal process would be for a grand jury to hear prosecutors' evidence against Hernandez for a potential indictment. It is not clear when this might happen.
The former Manhattan stock clerk who lived in Etan's neighborhood when the boy vanished was arrested Thursday by police following up on a tip.
The next day, he was sent to the hospital "because he's on medications, and we prefer to administer those in a hospital setting, said police spokesman Paul Browne who declined to elaborate on the medications.
"When Hernandez arrived at the hospital, he began making statements that he wanted to die, and a psychiatric evaluation was ordered, " added the law enforcement source.
Hernandez, who was 19 in 1979, told police he lured Etan to a store with the promise of a soda, choked him and placed his body in the trash about a block and a half away, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said. The boy was killed in the basement of a Manhattan building, according to the charging document filed late Friday afternoon by the Manhattan district attorney's office.