The murder trial for New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez took another step on Wednesday, as the star was in court once again for a probable cause hearing in the case and although the actual hearing was delayed until August, that wasn't the only courtroom development, as police confiscated the phone of one of Hernandez's cousins, Tanya Singleton.
ABC News first reported on the story and wrote that Tanya Singleton, Hernandez's cousin and the daughter of his uncle Andres Valderrama, had her phone taken away by detectives in the courtroom as evidence in the case. The report said that she was connected to the case through accomplice Ernest Wallace, as the two shared a Bristol home and afterwards, she was handed a warrant and authorities executed one on that home in Connecticut. On top of that, Singleton's husband Thaddeus "TL" Singleton III was sought as a possible witness in the case and was to be questioned by police, but he died in a car crash before he could be questioned.
The hearing was delayed until August and now new evidence may have been found in the home where the two lived and with the 33-year-old husband dead, there are more questions in connection to the case. Singleton's phone was taken and she was given a warrant to read in the hallway and when the news reports came to talk to her, she tried to shoo them away with "I'm not talking" before leaving the area. Hernandez is being accused in the shooting murder of Odin Lloyd and as more information comes in, the prosecution will build their case for a grand jury.
Hernandez has been tied to the crime through a whole range of evidence, including clothing, ammunition, video surveillance, text messages as well as a .45 caliber magazine clip that had his fingerprints on it. The murder weapon is allegedly the same caliber, although police have yet to find it. Hernandez' girlfriend Shayanna Jenkins and Odin Lloyd's family were in court on Wednesday to see the proceedings and they were visibly emotional as it went down. Hernandez appeared with a beard as well as suit jacket in court and now he won't be back until August for the hearing.
Hernandez was arrested after the body of the 27-year-old was found near his home in Attleboro and he was released by the Patriots right away and now he is facing life in prison for the charges of first degree murder. Accomplices Carlos Ortiz and Ernest Wallace are in custody and while the defense has called the case circumstantial, the judge painted Hernandez as the orchestrator of the murder, saying it stemmed from a dispute at a club with Lloyd, who was connected to him through his girlfriend, as Lloyd was dating her sister Shaneah.
