A Superior Court judge has denied a request from Aaron Hernandez calling for authorities to investigate one of the jurors who convicted him on the grounds the person had improperly discussed the case before proceedings commenced.

The Boston Globe reports Judge E. Susan Garsh rendered her ruling on Friday, dealing the former NFL star's defense team a severe blow in their ongoing efforts to have his first-degree murder conviction overturned.

Hernandez was convicted as the trigger-man in the June 2013, execution style killing of Odin Lloyd and is now serving out a life sentence without the possibility of parole at the Souza-Baranowski maximum security prison.

Garsh's order stipulated that an attorney for Hernandez was contacted by an anonymous caller who claimed that the juror in question had discussed an unrelated murder case in which the former New England Patriots star was also a suspect.

Hernandez has since been formally charged in the 2012 drive-by shooting deaths of Safiro Furtado and Daniel de Abreu outside a downtown Boston nightclub.

Investigators theorize that Hernandez opened fire on both men as they sat at a red light after one of them accidentally spilled a drink on him earlier in the evening and failed to apologize. He has pleaded not guilty in the case and trial is expected to be held later this year.

As for the case involving the juror, Garsh added the person testified before her behind closed doors on the matter on Oct. 23.

Hernandez was recently moved to a more segregated area of Souza-Baranowski after a sweep of his cell turned up a homemade "shank." During a recent court appearance, he sported a new, jailhouse neck tattoo prison officials have speculated could be a symbol of his gang affiliations behind bars.

Prior to being jailed in the Lloyd case, Hernandez had just inked a $40 million extension with the Patriots as one of Tom Brady's favorite targets.