The murder case involving Aaron Hernandez is getting closer and closer to getting a trial date and on Monday afternoon on December 23, Hernandez will be back in court in Fall River in Massachusetts and there is a chance that girlfriend Shayanna Jenkins will also be in attendance and reports say the hearing will detail some pretrial issues as well as media relations and discovery status and it will be live streamed from local FOX stations online.
Hernandez is scheduled to be in court on Monday after a previous appearance was pushed back and there will be a number of issues coming up, including whether the former Patriots star can receive a fair trial and whether or not the prosecution has violated the gag order in the case. No trial date has yet been set but that could be coming soon and the judge will hear arguments about the media blackout issues and whether he can get a fair trial.
Hernandez had some of his financials seized after the family of victim Odin Lloyd filed a wrongful death suit against the star and more issues like that could continue to come up as the case moves along in the court system. The pretrial hearing will be about the gag order and other issues may come up as well.
Check here for live coverage of the Aaron Hernandez court appearance from local FOX coverage.
Here is more on the case from Reuters.com, including details about the court appearance on Monday.
Aaron Hernandez, who was accused of killing a semi-professional football player in June, is due back in a Massachusetts court on Monday afternoon for a hearing in the case.
The former New England Patriots tight end was charged in the fatal shooting of his friend, Odin Lloyd, in an industrial area near his home in North Attleborough, Massachusetts.
Hernandez, 24, a star player with a $41 million contract when he was arrested, pleaded not guilty to murder and weapons-related charges and is being held in Bristol County Jail while awaiting trial. The Patriots dropped him from the team a few hours after his arrest.
Hernandez is expected to appear at Fall River Superior Court in Fall River, Massachusetts, for a pretrial conference and discovery status hearing, a court official said.
Prosecutors say Hernandez summoned Lloyd to his home and drove him, along with friends Carlos Ortiz and Ernest Wallace, to the isolated area where Hernandez shot Lloyd five times.
The two men had argued at a nightclub a few nights before the shooting because Lloyd, 27, had been speaking with people Hernandez disliked, prosecutors say.
Hernandez's attorneys have said the case against him is weak and circumstantial. Investigators have not presented the gun Hernandez is alleged to have used in the killing.
Last week, Lloyd's mother filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against Hernandez that seeks to block a payment of more than $3.25 million his former NFL union contends he is owed. A judge put a hold on his $1.26 million mansion while the suit is pending. (Reuters)