No. 25-748

Kevin McCarthy, Superintendent, Elmira Correctional Facility v. Pedro Hernandez

Lower Court: Second Circuit
Docketed: 2025-12-23
Status: Pending
Type: Paid
Experienced Counsel
Tags: aedpa jury-deliberations jury-instruction pretrial-suppression seibert-rule state-court-findings
Key Terms:
DueProcess CriminalProcedure HabeasCorpus
Latest Conference: N/A
Question Presented (AI Summary)

Did the Second Circuit violate AEDPA by finding a state jury instruction invalid under Seibert when the Supreme Court has never held that Seibert's rule about pretrial suppression extends to jury deliberations?

Question Presented (OCR Extract)

The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA) prohibits federal courts from invalidating a state conviction unless there is both a legal error violating clearly established federal law from this Court and a determination of prejudice that defers to state -court findings of harmless error. In this case, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit nullified a New York jury verdict convicting respondent Pedro Hernandez of the infamous 1979 kidnapping and murder of Etan Patz, based solely on the state trial judge’s purported failure to instruct the jury in accordance with Justice Kennedy’s cont rolling concurrence in Missouri v. Seibert , 542 U.S. 600 (2004). The questions presented are: 1. Did the Second Circuit violate AEDPA by finding a state jury instruction invalid under Seibert , when this Court has never held that Seibert ’s rule about pretrial suppression extends to jury deliberations ? 2. Did the Second Circuit violate AEDPA by finding that a single response by a state trial judge to a jury note necessarily infected the jury verdict , when the state courts found that there was more than sufficient evidence of the defendant’s guilt that was unaffected by the response ?

Docket Entries

2026-01-14
Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including February 23, 2026.
2026-01-12
Motion to extend the time to file a response from January 22, 2026 to February 23, 2026, submitted to The Clerk.
2025-12-18
Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due January 22, 2026)
2025-10-15
Application (25A432) granted by Justice Sotomayor extending the time to file until December 18, 2025.
2025-10-08
Application (25A432) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from October 19, 2025 to December 18, 2025, submitted to Justice Sotomayor.

Attorneys

Kevin McCarthy
Steven Chiajon WuNew York County District Attorney's Office, Petitioner
Steven Chiajon WuNew York County District Attorney's Office, Petitioner
Pedro Hernandez
Paul Whitfield HughesMcDermott Will & Schulte LLP, Respondent
Paul Whitfield HughesMcDermott Will & Schulte LLP, Respondent