NEW YORK (AP) — New York City prosecutors say they will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to restore a murder conviction in the 1979 disappearance of 6-year-old Etan Patz after an appeals court overturned the verdict in July.

The Manhattan district attorney’s made the disclosure in a court filing Sunday asking the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to hold off on enforcing its decision in the case of Pedro Hernandez. The former convenience store clerk became a suspect over 30 years after the first grader vanished.

The ruling presents “substantial legal questions,” prosecutor Stephen Kress wrote. The district attorney’s office has now “committed to seek Supreme Court review,” he said.

In overturning the conviction, a three-judge 2nd Circuit panel ordered Hernandez freed unless he is retried “wit

See Full Page