NEW YORK — Jurors in the murder trial surrounding the decades-old missing-child case of Etan Patz took the unusual step of rehearing closing arguments Thursday, a day after saying they were deadlocked.
Legal pads in hand, jurors listened and sometimes appeared to jot new entries in already-voluminous notes as a court stenographer began reading the summations in the case against Pedro Hernandez. Jurors made the request Wednesday, when a judge told them to keep trying after the deadlock.
Thursday marked the 11th day of deliberations in the case surrounding 6-year-old Etan’s 1979 disappearance, which helped draw national attention to the plight of missing children and their families.
Jurors had hours of testimony read back to them and reviewed dozens of exhibits before asking to rehear the summations. Such requests are rare; New York judges have discretion on whether to grant them, according to rulings in earlier cases.
