Sentencing Delayed For Pedro Hernandez, Man Convicted Of Killing Etan Patz

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Sentencing has been delayed for the man convicted of kidnapping and murdering Etan Patz.

Pedro Hernandez was found guilty in a retrial earlier this month. The jurors deliberated for nine days. Another jury deliberated for 18 days before deadlocking in 2015.

Hernandez was due to be sentenced Tuesday, but his attorneys requested a delay to challenge the verdict.

"We maintain Mr. Hernandez's innocence and will be filing a post-trial motion to set forth the reason why we know that, how we know that and why this verdict should be set aside," attorney Josh Dubin said.

Dubin said one of the issues involves what's being called jury contamination.

Dubin plans to argue that the jury in the retrial may have been influenced by the knowledge of a first trial. The defense believes that seeing the jurors from the first trial sitting in the audience with Patz's father suggested a support for conviction, 1010 WINS' Juliet Papa reported.

"When we filed our change of venue motion in this case, we had grave concerns about the extent of the media coverage, how detrimental it was to Mr. Hernandez, and the extent to which jurors from the first trial had become public advocates for Mr. Hernandez's guilt," Dubin said.

No sentencing date has been set. The judge will rule on the arguments in April.

Etan Patz was six years old when he disappeared while walking to school in SoHo in 1979. His body was never found.