Police come under questioning in case of New York boy missing since 1979

By Natasja Sheriff NEW YORK (Reuters) - Attorneys for a former grocery store worker accused of the 1979 killing of a New York City boy pressed a police detective on Monday about his interrogation techniques, as they seek to prove the accused man's confession was coerced. Pedro Hernandez, on trial for the kidnapping and murder of 6-year-old Etan Patz, confessed in 2012 to police that he choked the boy, stuffed him in a box and left him in a New York alley. Patz vanished as he walked alone for the first time to a school bus stop in his Manhattan neighborhood on May 25, 1979. His disappearance sparked a national movement to find missing children, with his picture one of the first to appear on milk cartons. Hernandez's attorneys say his confession was coerced and that he is mentally ill and suffers hallucinations. Testifying in state Supreme Court in Manhattan, New York Police Detective James Lamendola said he repeatedly told Hernandez: "The lies must stop" and "we need the truth" in the hour they were alone together in a room before Hernandez confessed. Hernandez made his videotaped confession after about six hours of questioning. He was questioned and arrested in 2012 after police got a tip that he had confessed to the crime to a church prayer group in New Jersey. Defense attorney Harvey Fishbein questioned the detective about his interview style, suggesting he used psychological pressure on Hernandez. "You don't get suspects to tell you the truth by yelling at them, screaming at them," the detective testified. "You get suspects to tell you the truth by being nice to them, compassionate to them, keeping them calm." Lamendola testified earlier that he talked to Hernandez about a "cycle of abuse," in which victims of abuse commit abuse themselves. Hernandez had told police he was abused by his father. Patz has never been found. He was declared dead in 2001. Hernandez, 54, told police he lured the boy into the Manhattan grocery store where he worked with the offer of a soda. His attorneys blame another man, Jose Antonio Ramos, who for many years was a prime suspect in the case. Ramos is a convicted child molester in prison in Pennsylvania. They say Ramos' neighbors identified Patz as a boy seen in a Manhattan apartment building where Ramos lived at the time of the boy's disappearance. (Editing by Ellen Wulfhorst and Peter Cooney)