The Supreme Court on Monday reinstated the murder conviction of Pedro Hernandez in the 1979 disappearance and killing of 6-year-old Etan Patz, overturning a federal appeals court decision that had vacated the verdict. In a 6-3 ruling, the justices granted an appeal from New York prosecutors who argued that the lower court had overstepped its authority in reversing Hernandez’s conviction. The three liberal justices dissented from the decision.

Etan Patz vanished on May 25, 1979, while walking to his school bus stop in downtown Manhattan. At the time, Hernandez, then 18, worked in a nearby convenience store. The case went unsolved for decades until Hernandez became a suspect in 2012 after his brother-in-law reported that Hernandez had admitted involvement. Hernandez subsequently confessed to strangling Patz and disposing of his body behind the store, including a videotaped admission to prosecutors. He was convicted in a 2017 retrial, following an earlier mistrial in 2015, and was sentenced to 25 years to life.

The controversy that led to the appeals court’s reversal centered on jury instructions during the 2017 trial. Jurors sent a question during deliberations asking if, should they find Hernandez’s initial confession inadmissible because it was made before he was read his Miranda rights, they must also disregard subsequent confessions. The trial judge responded simply, “the answer is no.” The appeals court ruled this was an insufficient and potentially misleading instruction, asserting the jury should have been allowed to consider discounting all confessions.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg criticized the appeals court’s ruling as “a slender reed” that disregarded extensive trial evidence, which included testimony from 66 witnesses over five months. He welcomed the Supreme Court’s decision as a measure of justice for the Patz family after decades of waiting.

Hernandez’s defense attorneys had argued that his confessions were unreliable and obtained under questionable circumstances. They noted Hernandez’s low IQ and history of mental illness, which they said contributed to a false confession during extensive police questioning before he was read his rights or formally arrested. They expressed disappointment with the Supreme Court’s ruling and maintained their client’s innocence.

The Supreme Court’s majority opinion emphasized limits on federal courts’ authority to overturn state convictions, citing a 1996 law intended to curtail federal oversight of state criminal trials. While acknowledging the appeals court’s concerns over the confessions’ reliability, the justices wrote that such issues are not grounds for federal relief if the state court’s decision was reasonable. The three dissenting justices did not provide a public explanation of their disagreement.

With the conviction reinstated, Hernandez remains incarcerated, serving his sentence in a case that was instrumental in raising national awareness about missing children, including the establishment of National Missing Children’s Day. Prosecutors have indicated they will await further guidance from appellate and state courts regarding any next legal steps.