Former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez can no longer afford to pay his defense lawyers in his murder trial proceedings and now his attorneys may have to scale back their defense work and this comes as the Pats and Hernandez through the NFLPA are in dispute over contract bonus money.
According to ESPN.com, Hernandez made about $18 million with the Patriots over three years and now he is running out of money and cannot afford to pay his defense team now that he is dealing with a second murder case after the Odin Lloyd case that he was arrested for. Hernandez has been in jail since last summer after being arrested on charges of first degree murder for the death of Lloyd and now he has filed a motion to help give him time to get his financial situations in order.
ESPN and Fox Sports first reported the news and Hernandez has lawyers Charles Rankin and James Sultan, as well as attorney Michael Fee representing him now and he will have to make a deal to keep things going in the future. Hernandez paid over $1 million for his home where he was arrested last year and he shared that with his fiance Shayanna Jenkins and he purchased that after signing his contract extension.
The 24 year old signed a $40 million extension with the Patriots in the spring of 2012 and he now stands accused of committing a double murder months after that. Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado were killed in a drive by shooting that Hernandez is accused of committing and he will be back in court on June 24 for a scheduling hearing regarding one of the two cases. Hernandez was described as following the men after an altercation at a nightclub in July of 2012 when they bumped into him and made him spill his drink.
Hernandez was paid $6 million of a $12.5 million bonus and he got another cut of $3.25 million in March before he was arrested and released and now the dispute between the players union and the Pats is for the rest of that money.
