Aaron Hernandez is in jail and now his trial for the Odin Lloyd murder case has a tentative date in January of 2015 and this comes after the judge rejected a motion for dismissal on the first degree murder charges in the case and also after Hernandez's girlfriend and fiance Shayanna Jenkins has been accused of perjury and lying to the grand jury in the case.
According to ESPN.com, the judge in the case rejected the motion by lawyers for Hernandez of dismissing the case, saying that probable cause and guilt can be made by using circumstantial evidence. This case has been built on that type of evidence, as the prosecution has not found the murder weapon and has not locked down a concrete motive regarding the murder of Lloyd. The lawyers in the case speculate that Hernandez killed Lloyd in retaliation for something that he said or did at a nightclub, but that is still up for debate.
Lloyd was found less than a mile from Hernandez's home last summer and it has been a year since he was arrested in that case. Since then, Jenkins has been accused of lying to the grand jury and possibly disposing of the murder weapon, while Hernandez has been accused of committing two other murders. Those murders actually occurred before Lloyd was killed, but that trial will come after the Lloyd case based on when he was arrested.
ESPN writes that Hernandez's lawyers argued that the case has not established probable cause for the murder and that the charges should be dismissed since there has not been a true motive presented in the case. The ruling stated that the prosecution can base their case on the circumstantial evidence they have and they also do not need to establish a motive to get a murder conviction, which is a strike against the Hernandez side.
Hernandez is being held without bail all this time and is now accused of first degree murder in three separate counts and two cases. The Lloyd murder led to his release from the New England Patriots and now his trial has a date set for it. Lloyd and Hernandez were connected through Hernandez's fiance, as Lloyd was dating her sister at the time of his death.
Hernandez is likely going on trial for the murder of Odin Lloyd early next year, as SI.com and ESPN are reporting that the trial date is likely set for January 9, 2015 and that comes over a year and half after he was arrested for the shooting death of Lloyd and as this goes on, his fiance and girlfriend Shayanna Jenkins has been accused of lying to the grand jury about disposing of the gun used in the murder.
