Psychiatrist: Man Accused Of Killing Etan Patz Does Not Have Serious Mental Illness
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - A psychiatrist called by the prosecution in the Etan Patz murder trial returned to the witness stand Tuesday.
Psychiatrist Michael Welner testified as a key rebuttal witness for the prosecution, challenging the findings by a defense psychiatrist who had described Pedro Hernandez as being more vulnerable than the average person for making a false confession, WCBS 880's Irene Cornell reported.
Welner's view is that Hernandez has a personality disorder, but not a serious mental illness. He told jurors Hernandez had little difficulty functioning in the world, saying he is a good amateur mechanic, does home repairs, knows how to cook, taught himself to play the accordion and has held down several menial jobs.
Hernandez had given Welner the same account of his choking 6-year-old Etan that he gave police and a prosecutor.
Hernandez confessed to police in 2012 that he offered Etan a soda to entice him into the basement of the SoHo bodega where he worked. Then, Hernandez said, he choked the boy and dumped him in a box with some curbside trash. Etan's body has never been found.
Defense lawyers say Hernandez's confession is fiction, dreamed up by a mentally ill man with a low IQ and a history of hallucinations and fueled by more than six hours of police questioning before Hernandez was read his rights.