As Aaron Hernandez‘s attorneys have been pushing to get his murder conviction overturned for a new trial due to possible jury corruption, a judge has put a crimp in their plans. Rather than have the juror hit from all sides by both the former New England Patriots player’s attorneys and the prosecutors, a judge is blocking both sides from contacting the juror who helped convict him of the 2013 killing of Odin Lloyd.
His attorneys, have filed four motions asking that their client’s verdict be overturned because of this matter. In plain terms, they say that a jury found out something he or she shouldn’t have and used that in determining his guilt. With as much coverage as the arrest, indictment and trial had, it wouldn’t be too hard for something like that to happen. The documents have been sealed from the public, so it’s unclear what the juror was exposed too.
During the trial, Judge Garsh did rule to withhold certain evidence or testimony from the trail like the fact that Hernandez hadn’t been charged for a separate double-homicide or that one of the prosecutor’s witnesses alleged the football player shot him in the face to silence him. This evidence had been deemed too prejudicial against Hernandez.
The order follows concerns from a Hernandez lawyer that the juror might have been “untruthful” during jury selection. Lawyer James Sultan said in earlier court records he received an anonymous tip that the juror had been present for a discussion about a separate Boston double-murder case Hernandez is also charged in.
Sultan said the defense would have asked that the juror be excused if it had known.
The judge’s order prohibits all direct or indirect contact with the juror.
Hernandez was sentenced to life in prison without parole for killing Odin Lloyd in North Attleborough.
Besides being convicted of the June 2013 killing of Lloyd, Hernandez is also facing double murder charges in connection with a drive-by shooting outside a downtown Boston nightclub in the summer of 2012.