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.

The 1979 disappearance of Etan Patz helped catalyze a national missing-children’s movement.

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.