The Aaron Hernandez case is back in court again on Wednesday and with the pretrial hearing starting up at 2pm, the former Patriots tight end is in court wearing a suit and tie and he has his handcuffs off as the hearing goes on, with lawyers arguing for various motions in the case, while fiancé Shayanna Jenkins is not in court.
The defense has asked to continue a gag order in the case and they have argued that Hernandez already has not been given a fair trial before anything has even happened due to the fact that leaks and other information has gotten out to the media. The defense argued that the fair trial idea has already been "impaired" by leaks and that Hernandez may not be able to get a fair jury when the trial date comes around.
The prosecution has said that it has been doing its best to keep things closed and the judge has asked lawyers if they have tried to find out about any police leaks in the case regarding information about evidence. Hernandez's fiancé is not in the courtroom on Wednesday, as ESPN.com reported that she is dealing with her own issues, as she was hit with perjury charges in the case. The judge will issue a gag order in the case and Hernandez will continue to face his first degree murder charges.
A trial date has not yet been set in the case and this pretrial hearing is the next step in the proceedings for Hernandez. The case began after the body of Lloyd was found a mile from Hernandez's home at an industrial park shot to death and Hernandez was arrested the following week for the murder. The Patriots released him that same day and since then, reports and information has come out about Hernandez, including that he was texting Lloyd the night of the murder and that he also was seen with a gun in his home the night of the murder on video surveillance.
Hernandez is facing life in prison for the charges and lawyers have argued that it all stemmed from a disagreement that Hernandez and Lloyd had at a nightclub. The murder weapon has not yet been found in the case and the lawyers in the case argued about preserving evidence and the fact that there have been too many leaks in the case. Hernandez has sat calmly wearing a suit and tie and his lawyers asked for his handcuffs to be removed and they were taken off for the first time while he has been in court.
The defense has asked about missing or lost evidence and there was a previous motion about the judge recusing herself from the case, but they will come back to that. Hernandez was considered to be one of the best tight ends in the league when he was arrested and the Pats let him go despite him signing a $40 million contract extension.
Police searched his home thoroughly and also looked into his fiancé, who they felt may have disposed of the murder weapon. She is facing perjury charges and Shayanna Jenkins had a storage unit looked into by police, but they did not find anything. Jenkins was seen taking something out of the home the day after the murder on video surveillance and Hernandez was also seen on video surveillance the night of the murder with a gun and he also previously tried to destroy the video system before police searched the home.
