Missing-boy jury deadlocks again

NEW YORK — Jurors deliberating in the 36-year-old missing-child case of Etan Patz said Tuesday they are deadlocked for the second time in 15 days, but a judge told them to keep trying.

The jury sent a midday note saying it was still stuck after deliberating since April 15 in the case against Pedro Hernandez, who is charged with two counts of second-degree murder. He admitted killing Etan, one of the first missing children ever pictured on a milk carton, but his defense said the confession is false.

“After serious, significant and thorough deliberations, we remain unable to reach a unanimous verdict,” wrote the jury, which has reviewed dozens of exhibits and even created a spreadsheet to organize the discussion. Jurors haven’t been locked in debate all that time; they’ve spent hours in the courtroom, listening again to testimony and even both sides’ closing arguments.

The defense asked Tuesday for a mistrial, arguing that the deliberations had gone on long enough.

Prosecutors, meanwhile, sought an instruction telling jurors to reconsider their views. State Supreme Court Justice Maxwell Wiley instead asked jurors to keep deliberating while reminding them they weren’t required to reach a verdict.

Etan disappeared while walking to his school bus stop May 25, 1979. The anniversary would become National Missing Children’s Day after his case helped draw national attention to the cause of missing children.

Etan’s body has never been found.

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