Former New England Patriots star Aaron Hernandez is currently in jail awaiting trial in the shooting murder of semi-professional football player Odin Lloyd and the next step in that process is another court appearance for the tight end on Wednesday for a probable cause hearing.
Hernandez last appeared in court for a bail hearing the day after being arrested and arraigned for the first degree murder of Lloyd and was denied bail and now he will be back in court again for what legal experts say is a "non-event" in this case. The reason for that is the fact that there is a decent amount of evidence that has already been described and detailed by the prosecution as well as the search warrants that were unveiled and since these hearings are for the judge to determine whether a crime was committed and whether or not Hernandez was involved and it's clear that the judge already does.
The outcome of the hearing will likely be that the case will get sent to trial and the next step will be an indictment that gets handed down by a grand jury. Hernandez has been held in jail without bail after being denied twice since being arraigned a few weeks ago and so far all reports have said that the former Patriots star has been a model inmate while being held in solitary confinement for his safety. Hernandez is being held without bail in Bristol County and the grand jury is meeting in Fall River and has heard a great deal of testimony and information, including from a man named Alexander Bradley that Hernandez is allegedly friends with.
Bradley filed a civil suit against Hernandez that accuses the tight end of shooting him in Florida and the two previously were spotted together in a police report from earlier in the year that saw Bradley get nabbed for drunk driving. That report said that Hernandez mentioned who he was to the officer during the stop and at some point soon, the grand jury will be finished and a trial date will be set. Hernandez likely will face trial in Superior Court and the likely defense for Hernandez and his team of lawyers will be that the evidence is circumstantial.
Hernandez was arrested soon after the body of Lloyd was discovered less than a mile from his home in North Attleboro and he was released by the Patriots soon after it happened and before he even appeared in court. Hernandez was considered one of the top young tight ends in the league and after signing a $40 million contract he was considered a cornerstone player by the Patriots, but now he is facing life in prison for murder. The documents released by the court showed that Hernandez was initially agitated with police when they were asking him questions about Lloyd and he stands accused of first degree murder. Two other men are also in custody that are considered accomplices in Carlos Ortiz and Ernest Wallace and Wallace will also be in court later this week.