The appeals court found that the trial judge in 2017 gave "clearly wrong" and "manifestly prejudicial" instructions to the jury in response to a question about the suspect’s confessions to police.

A US appeals court has ruled that the man convicted in the 1979 murder and disappearance of a 6-year-old boy in New York City should receive a new trial, or be released.

The appeals court overturned the conviction because of an issue involving how the trial judge handled a jury note during Hernandez’s 2017 trial — his second.