Aaron Katersky is ABC News’ award-winning senior investigative reporter and correspondent. His reporting can be heard on ABC News Radio and seen across all ABC News platforms, including "Good Morning America," "World News Tonight," "Nightline," "20/20" and ABC News Live. Katersky’s voice has become synonymous with some of the most important domestic and international breaking news events in recent history. As ABC News Radio’s special events anchor, he has led the network’s coverage of everything from mass shootings and hurricanes to royal weddings and presidential elections since 2004. Katersky’s war zone assignments began in Iraq in 2003 when he embedded with the Marines. He’s since made numerous trips to Baghdad and Afghanistan and has been on the front lines covering conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. In his nearly two decades with ABC News, Katersky has reported everywhere from Tahrir Square for the historic Arab Spring to Rome for the selection of Pope Benedict and the beatification of Pope John Paul II. Closer to home, Katersky has been ABC News Radio’s leading voice for political coverage, anchoring from conventions, debates and inaugurations. He has covered the elections of George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump as well the Mueller report and the impeachment hearings. Katersky’s deep sourcing in the law enforcement and legal communities has helped ABC News break numerous stories about terrorism, Harvey Weinstein and the college admissions cheating scheme. He is the recipient of numerous Edward R. Murrow awards and Emmy awards.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is a podcast from Doubor. Here again is Larry
Minty with the DOBR Saturday Morning Show.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Welcome Back. It was a story that captured the attention
in hearts of the country. In nineteen seventy nine, a
six year old boy disappears without a trace from the
straits of Manhattan. That started the missing child database and
put missing children on the back of milk cartons. And
then in twenty fourteen, police finally found the man they
(00:29):
believed killed Aton, or so they thought. ABC correspondent Aaron
Katerski explains why all these years later, Pedro Hernandez may
walk free. Aaron, thanks so much for being with us
this morning. Appreciate your time. I never went through that
fifty two page decision, but I'm sure you have. What
(00:53):
is in there? What does it say? They as they
built to this decision.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
The Second Circuit. Larry has said that the trial judge
Max Wiley made an error when during jury deliberations, jurors
sent a note asking about Pedro Hernandez's confessions. Remember, he
confessed effectively twice. The first time he did it before
(01:20):
police read him as Miranda rights. And that's a mistake
and he should have been mirandized. The second time, he
did it on video after his rights were read, and
the jury was wondering, if they don't believe the first
confession was proper, do they automatically have to disregard the
(01:43):
second confession? And Judge Wiley answered no without any further explanation,
And the Federal Appeals Court said that that instruction was
clearly wrong and it was manifestly prejudicial. And so the
court has ordered Pedro Hernandez get released or retried by
(02:04):
the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, which is now reviewing the decision.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Do we have any idea what they may do? We
have a whole new set of prosecutors now, do we
know which way from maybe past cases or what they've
talked about in this case, that they may decide.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
You know, the only I think comparable reversal may be
Harvey Weinstein, And in that case, Alvin Bragg opted to
retry Harvey Weinstein with a mixed result. Here, of course,
the circumstances are different. Pedro Hernandez has already served thirteen
years of a twenty five year to life sentence. The
(02:45):
Pate's family stand pais he moved away to Hawaii, thinking
that justice had finally been served Larry, and so whether
he wants to go through what would be a third trial.
Remember first trial ended with a hun jury, second one
ended with this conviction. That there's a lot for prosecutors
(03:06):
to consider, and of course they they opt for a
different route, which is to challenge the appellate court and
maybe take it, try to take it to the US
Supreme Court.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
I remember at the time there were some questions about
the arrest too, because of the mental competency of that.
There was discussed at the time of Pedro Hernandez. Tell
us about that.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
Well, remember how it all started, That the NYPD ended
up digging up a basement in Soho and at the
time prosecutors kind of thought that was a waste of time.
Didn't really end up finding anything, but it did have
an effect in that it kind of shook the trees
a little bit, and a relative of Pedro Hernandez and
someone in his church community ended up coming forward to
(03:51):
police to say, hey, this guy who had not been
on the radar ended up confessing to the crime and
said he did it. And when he was talking to
the authorities, he gave details that they believed at the time,
only someone who actually committed the crime would have known,
(04:13):
and so they were quite excited about it because it
was a break in the case that had effectively gone dormant.
There was this other guy they'd been looking at. He
wasn't the guy, so there was some excitement. The Federal
Appeals Court did, however, that that Peedro Hernandez does have
a low IQ. There were questions about his competency, and
(04:33):
even jurors at the time said it was not an
open and shut case, but they believed the confession because
it was on video, and that was too much at
the time for Hernandez to overcome.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Right. I brought up the mental competency for this reason
because before they put it on video, Before they put
that confession on video, they spent seven hours with him,
and I guess there is this suspic that they talked
him into this, that they spent so much time on him,
with him and he and he, and he wasn't with
(05:08):
it enough to realize what was happening until they finally
convinced him he did it.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
So and and and that's one of the reasons I
think why the Federal Appeals Court said that the trial
judge you know, made an error in his instruction that
it's the tactic that the law is meant to correct.
They don't want police talking to a suspect before he's
read his rights and then you know, read him his
(05:34):
rights and lo and behold, look what happens. So so
prosecutors ended up coming into the interview and they I
think it's called attenuation where they have to wait a
certain number of hours before they can talk to a
suspect again to make sure the confession is proper. So
(05:56):
this went on like all day, all night, and they
you know, they fed him, they had to give him meals,
they had to step away from him, they had to
let him just be for a good while before they
could flip on the video camera and start asking him
questions again. So, in theory, the confession that was on
(06:18):
video was legally proper, but what preceded it is it
was not. And you know, the prosecutors knew that going in,
and perhaps the judges instructions should have been a little
clearer to the jury.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Aaron Katerski, Chief investigative correspondent at ABC News. You're always great,
Thanks so much, Eron appreciate your time.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
Thanks Larry for having me appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
Oh no, absolutely, man, is he good? I will tell
you what if I was the father, If I am
the father, do you want to put yourself through this again?
Speaker 1 (06:50):
This has been a podcast from wor
This is a podcast from Doubor. Here again is Larry
Minty with the DOBR Saturday Morning Show.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Welcome Back. It was a story that captured the attention
in hearts of the country. In nineteen seventy nine, a
six year old boy disappears without a trace from the
straits of Manhattan. That started the missing child database and
put missing children on the back of milk cartons. And
then in twenty fourteen, police finally found the man they
(00:29):
believed killed Aton, or so they thought. ABC correspondent Aaron
Katerski explains why all these years later, Pedro Hernandez may
walk free. Aaron, thanks so much for being with us
this morning. Appreciate your time. I never went through that
fifty two page decision, but I'm sure you have. What
(00:53):
is in there? What does it say? They as they
built to this decision.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
The Second Circuit. Larry has said that the trial judge
Max Wiley made an error when during jury deliberations, jurors
sent a note asking about Pedro Hernandez's confessions. Remember, he
confessed effectively twice. The first time he did it before
(01:20):
police read him as Miranda rights. And that's a mistake
and he should have been mirandized. The second time, he
did it on video after his rights were read, and
the jury was wondering, if they don't believe the first
confession was proper, do they automatically have to disregard the
(01:43):
second confession? And Judge Wiley answered no without any further explanation,
And the Federal Appeals Court said that that instruction was
clearly wrong and it was manifestly prejudicial. And so the
court has ordered Pedro Hernandez get released or retried by
(02:04):
the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, which is now reviewing the decision.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Do we have any idea what they may do? We
have a whole new set of prosecutors now, do we
know which way from maybe past cases or what they've
talked about in this case, that they may decide.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
You know, the only I think comparable reversal may be
Harvey Weinstein, And in that case, Alvin Bragg opted to
retry Harvey Weinstein with a mixed result. Here, of course,
the circumstances are different. Pedro Hernandez has already served thirteen
years of a twenty five year to life sentence. The
(02:45):
Pate's family stand pais he moved away to Hawaii, thinking
that justice had finally been served Larry, and so whether
he wants to go through what would be a third trial.
Remember first trial ended with a hun jury, second one
ended with this conviction. That there's a lot for prosecutors
(03:06):
to consider, and of course they they opt for a
different route, which is to challenge the appellate court and
maybe take it, try to take it to the US
Supreme Court.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
I remember at the time there were some questions about
the arrest too, because of the mental competency of that.
There was discussed at the time of Pedro Hernandez. Tell
us about that.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
Well, remember how it all started, That the NYPD ended
up digging up a basement in Soho and at the
time prosecutors kind of thought that was a waste of time.
Didn't really end up finding anything, but it did have
an effect in that it kind of shook the trees
a little bit, and a relative of Pedro Hernandez and
someone in his church community ended up coming forward to
(03:51):
police to say, hey, this guy who had not been
on the radar ended up confessing to the crime and
said he did it. And when he was talking to
the authorities, he gave details that they believed at the time,
only someone who actually committed the crime would have known,
(04:13):
and so they were quite excited about it because it
was a break in the case that had effectively gone dormant.
There was this other guy they'd been looking at. He
wasn't the guy, so there was some excitement. The Federal
Appeals Court did, however, that that Peedro Hernandez does have
a low IQ. There were questions about his competency, and
(04:33):
even jurors at the time said it was not an
open and shut case, but they believed the confession because
it was on video, and that was too much at
the time for Hernandez to overcome.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Right. I brought up the mental competency for this reason
because before they put it on video, Before they put
that confession on video, they spent seven hours with him,
and I guess there is this suspic that they talked
him into this, that they spent so much time on him,
with him and he and he, and he wasn't with
(05:08):
it enough to realize what was happening until they finally
convinced him he did it.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
So and and and that's one of the reasons I
think why the Federal Appeals Court said that the trial
judge you know, made an error in his instruction that
it's the tactic that the law is meant to correct.
They don't want police talking to a suspect before he's
read his rights and then you know, read him his
(05:34):
rights and lo and behold, look what happens. So so
prosecutors ended up coming into the interview and they I
think it's called attenuation where they have to wait a
certain number of hours before they can talk to a
suspect again to make sure the confession is proper. So
(05:56):
this went on like all day, all night, and they
you know, they fed him, they had to give him meals,
they had to step away from him, they had to
let him just be for a good while before they
could flip on the video camera and start asking him
questions again. So, in theory, the confession that was on
(06:18):
video was legally proper, but what preceded it is it
was not. And you know, the prosecutors knew that going in,
and perhaps the judges instructions should have been a little
clearer to the jury.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Aaron Katerski, Chief investigative correspondent at ABC News. You're always great,
Thanks so much, Eron appreciate your time.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
Thanks Larry for having me appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
Oh no, absolutely, man, is he good? I will tell
you what if I was the father, If I am
the father, do you want to put yourself through this again?
Speaker 1 (06:50):
This has been a podcast from wor
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