Patz ‘frameup’

THE LONE HOLDOUT in the first Etan Patz trial is standing his ground after 23 other jurors decided the now-convicted killer is guilty.

“While I can appreciate the wish for closure to this terrible story, I am disappointed by the verdict,” Adam Sirois told the Daily News on Wednesday, the day after the resolution of the 38-year-old case.

Sirois, 44, still does not believe the convicted former bodega worker, Pedro Hernandez, 56, is responsible for the abduction and murder of the 6-year-old in 1979. Sirois points instead to longtime suspect Jose Ramos, whom Hernandez’s defense sought to implicate.

Hernandez’s “confession is false and (Ramos) is responsible for the crime, based on the evidence,” Sirois argued.

The panelist, who forced a mistrial after 18 days of deliberations in May 2015, hopes lawyers for Hernandez make progress on their appeal. If the conviction is tossed for legal missteps, the case could go to a third jury.

But Michael Luster, one of the jurors who helped convict Hernandez on the ninth day of deliberations Tuesday, said he and his colleagues decided their initial doubts were not “reasonable” under the law.

The 37-year-old software architect said the panel was initially split, with seven arguing for conviction and five in favor of acquittal or undecided.

“What stuck out to me was, this was not a guy separated from reality,” Luster told The News, speaking of Hernandez. “He said the words, ‘I’m so sorry,’ then started bawling for two minutes. It was real emotion about killing a 6-year-old.”

The suspect, who worked at a SoHo bodega next to Etan’s school bus stop, confessed to cops after hours of questioning in May 2012. By the end, he said he’d strangled Etan and hidden the boy’s body in a nearby alley.

Luster said that during the deliberations, the pro-acquittal jurors were asked to defend their doubts and those on the guilty side were asked to explain what moved them beyond reasonable doubt. “We came to the same conclusion from different paths,” he added.

Sirois, however, remains adamant that the new jury got it wrong.

“There is enough room for reasonable doubt to vote not guilty,” he said.

Hernandez faces life in prison when he’s sentenced later this month.