A convicted Pennsylvania child molester long suspected of kidnapping and killing Etan Patz will not take the stand at the trial of another man accused of the horrific crime, a Manhattan judge ruled Monday. <\/p>\n
Sicko Jose Ramos, 71, indicated through his lawyer that hed invoke his Fifth Amendment right if called to testify at Pedro Hernandezs trial set begin early next year. <\/p>\n
Justice Maxwell Wiley sided with Prosecutor Joan Illuzzi-Orbon who argued that it would be confusing for jurors if Ramos took the stand only to refuse to answer questions. <\/p>\n
Defense lawyer Harvey Fishbein intends to cast doubt on Hernandezs guilt by portraying Ramos as the real perpetrator at trial, court papers show. <\/p>\n
Hernandez, 53, confessed to the crime in 2012 but later recanted. <\/p>\n
Convicted child molester Jose Ramos, left, and Pedro Hernandez, who is accused of abducting and killing Etan Patz in 1979.Photo: AP <\/p>\n
Wiley will permit the defense to introduce damning statements Ramos made to investigators in 1988 and other incriminating evidence about his long history of preying on young boys, he said in court Monday. <\/p>\n
Ramos told New York detectives and a federal prosecutor that he was 90 percent sure he was with Etan, 6, the day he vanished May 25, 1979. <\/p>\n
He claimed hed lured the boy to his apartment but didnt kidnap or kill him. <\/p>\n
Ramos is not the type to just seize a boy on the street and sexually abuse him, hes the type that lures, entices, engages the individual to come with him, said Fishbein. <\/p>\n
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More: A convicted Pennsylvania child molester long suspected of kidnapping and killing Etan Patz will not take the stand at the trial of another man accused of the horrific crime, a Manhattan judge ruled Monday. Sicko Jose Ramos, 71, indicated through his lawyer that hed invoke his Fifth Amendment right if called to testify at Pedro Hernandezs trial set begin early next year. Justice Maxwell Wiley sided with Prosecutor Joan Illuzzi-Orbon who argued that it would be confusing for jurors if Ramos took the stand only to refuse to answer questions Continue reading
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