Aaron Hernandez Case, Trial & News Update: Former NFL Star's Associate Carlos Ortiz Charged With a New Murder
Carlos Ortiz, an associate of former New England Patriot Aaron Hernandez, who is charged with helping Hernandez murder Odin Lloyd, has now been slammed with a new murder charge.
According to Sports Illustrated, Ortiz will be arraigned on May 27 on another murder charge. While details were not released in the court records as to what murder he is charged with committing, it is clear that it is not related to the Lloyd case. Ortiz will be arraigned for the murder in Fall River Superior Court.
Ortiz was one of the men who allegedly helped Hernandez fatally shoot Lloyd. He was originally set to testify against Hernandez, but as new facts came to light, he was no longer seen as a trustworthy witness.
Shortly after, Ortiz was charged on accessory to murder after the fact and was held on $500,000 bail while awaiting the grand jury indictment last month for the Lloyd murder case.
Hernandez was arraigned at the same court after being indicted a few weeks ago for charges related to a jailhouse fight that occurred on Feb. 25.
A grand jury in Bristol County indicted Hernandez, 24, on charges of assault and battery stemming from the jailhouse altercation, according to CNN. The former NFL star was also indicted for threatening to do physical harm to someone who worked at the jail in November. Hernandez is accused of punching an inmate in the face, but neither man was seriously injured in the Feb. 25 altercation. The date for Hernandez's arraignment has not yet been set. Hernandez's attorney has yet to release a statement about the indictment. Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson said that jail officials will investigate how the two inmates came into contact because "no more than one inmate is supposed to be out at a time" in Hernandez's unit.
Hernandez is in Bristol County Jail awaiting a first-degree murder charge, for which he has pleaded not guilty.
Hernandez allegedly picked up Odin Lloyd from his apartment in Boston in a rental car shortly before Lloyd was found fatally shot on June 17. Lloyd was found dead in an industrial park near Hernandez's North Attleborough home. According to authorities, surveillance cameras show the rental car leaving the scene of the crime and Hernandez carrying a gun when he returned to his home shortly after.
Hernandez has also been connected to a double shooting outside of a club in Boston's South End in 2012 and to a shooting that occurred in Miami last year.
Alexander Bradley, another Hernandez associate, claims that he lost an eye when Hernandez shot him in Miami. Bradley is also connected to the 2012 double shooting.