“The only part that mental disease plays in this case is its role in the confession,” said a lawyer for Pedro Hernandez today in court, where the 51-year-old pleaded not guilty to abducting and killing 6-year-old Etan Patz in 1979. “My client had no motive and no history.” Hernandez was indicted in the cold case, despite a reported lack of physical evidence, largely on the basis of his own admission, which prosecutors contend is “credible and persuasive.”
