The Aaron Hernandez trial has a start date in January of 2015 for the murder of Odin Lloyd and both Patriots head coach Bill Belichick and team owner Robert Kraft have been named as potential witnesses in the proceedings, as the prosecutors have listed them in legal documents as options to testify in the case.
ESPN.com reports that Hernandez's lawyers are asking the prosecutors to bring down the list of up to 300 potential witnesses in the case. Michael McCann from SI.com writes that Belichick and Kraft could provide witness testimony about Hernandez and his state of mind around the time of the murder of Odin Lloyd. The case blew up last summer when Lloyd's body was found shot to death less than a mile from the home where Hernandez lived with his fiancé in North Attleborough.
Hernandez and his lawyers asked for the list to be pared down, as they said that over 300 witnesses would not end up being called and it was "inconceivable" that that many names would be on the list. Lloyd was killed by gunshots and the gun used in the murder was never found. The Patriots released Hernandez soon after he was arrested, but that doesn't keep them from being called to testify about the case.
Hernandez recently had another one of his trials delayed, as he is preparing for one murder trial and faces charges in two more killings. According to ESPN.com, Hernandez had the trial delayed after a judge agreed to a request from his defense team, as they claimed they needed more time since Hernandez is preparing to face charges in another case. Hernandez is charged with first degree murder for the killings of three men across two cases, one being the high profile Odin Lloyd case for which he was arrested for along with a double murder that preceded the 2013 killing.
The double murder of Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado occurred after Hernandez and the men got into an altercation at a nightclub, while the Lloyd murder may have also stemmed from that night. Some reports have Hernandez killing Lloyd to cover up information about the double murder, as Lloyd may have known about the crime. Hernandez has been in jail since last summer and now is facing two different trials.
The hearing for Hernandez and the decision here came last week and his attorneys argued that their legal team does not have enough time to prepare for the case. Judge Jeffrey Locke ruled that the trial could be delayed, but no new date was set for the court trial. Hernandez was one of the top young tight ends in the NFL heading into the middle of his career and he had recently signed a major extension when the news broke about the killing. The Patriots released him soon after that.
Hernandez is charged with first degree murder in the killing of Lloyd, who was dating the sister of Shayanna Jenkins, the fiancé of Hernandez. The two knew each other through that connection and investigators have speculated that an incident at a nightclub the week before the killing was what sparked the shooting. Hernandez was arrested at his home in North Attleboro and Jenkins is charged with perjury in relation to the case.
