New York City prosecutors in Manhattan on Thursday were ordered to retry or release Pedro Hernandez by June after a federal appellate court overturned his 2017 conviction in the murder of 6-year-old Etan Patz in 1979. File Handout Photo | License Photo

Oct. 17 (UPI) — Pedro Hernandez must be retried or released by June after a federal appellate in July overturned his 2017 conviction in the murder of 6-year-old Etan Patz.

U.S. District of Southern New York Judge Colleen McMahon on Thursday gave the Manhattan prosecutor’s office until June 1 to file for a retrial or release Hernandez, The New York Times reported.

Manhattan prosecutors sought a 90-day extension to determine whether or not they have enough witnesses and evidence to retry Hernandez, 64, whose 2017 conviction was overturned due to the presiding judge giving improper instructions to the jury.

The prosecutors also said they would need a year beyond the 90 days to bring a new case against Hernandez, which would be his third for the 1979 kidnapping and murder of the boy who disappeared while walking two blocks from his family’s SoHo neighborhood home to his school bus stop.

The first trial against Hernandez ended when the jury could not agree on a verdict, but he was convicted of kidnapping and murder and sentenced to prison for 25 years to life when retried in 2017, according to ABC News.

Prosecutors had no physical evidence against Hernandez and relied on confessions attributed to Hernandez to secure the 2017 conviction.

Hernandez has a history of documented mental illness and a low IQ.

The federal appellate court determined the judge presiding over his 2017 case erred when advising jurors on how to assess the confessions that were attributed to Hernandez.

One of them occurred before he had been read his Miranda rights, and detectives then asked him to repeat the confession after reading his rights.

The jurors asked if they had to disregard both confessions because the first was made before Hernandez was read his rights, to which the judge said “no.”

That was incorrect and “contradicted clearly established federal law,” the appellate court panel ruled.

Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo told Judge McMahon the appellate court’s ruling will be appealed to the Supreme Court, which would negate a retrial if the court accepts the case.

Patz’s disappearance became the first case in which a missing child’s image and relevant information were listed on milk cartons to help locate him.