Aaron Hernandez Murder Trial News Update: Trial Halted Because of Bomb Threat
A bomb threat in a courthouse Thursday has temporarily stopped proceedings in the Aaron Hernandez murder trial, according to The Associated Press.
Superior Court Judge Susan Garsh said that court was being suspended while the building was evacuated but expects the court to resume at 2 p.m.
A security officer said a bomb threat was called in to the Fall River Justice Center in Massachusetts.
The former New England Patriots player Aaron Hernandez is accused of killing Odin Lloyd, the man who was dating the sister of Hernandez's fiancée.
AP reported Wednesday that the judge said prosecutors are about a week away from resting their case against Hernandez.
Testimony in the case began Jan. 29. There was no testimony Wednesday but Judge Garsh heard from prosecutors and Hernandez's lawyers about pending issues in the case.
Garsh also said that she might allow prosecutors to use some jailhouse phone calls made by Hernandez and others connected to the case as evidence, despite Hernandez's defense team's objections.
The calls would include conversations he had with his fiancé, and college teammate and Miami Dolphins player Mike Pouncey.
Prosecutors said they do not plan on using the calls with Pouncey.
Hernandez's attorney Michael Fee said that the phone calls were irrelevant and are being used "to bolster a foundering case."
Prosecutor Patrick Bomberg said that the conversations show evidence of Hernandez trying to cover up the 2013 murder of Lloyd. In one of the conversations, Hernandez's cousin Tanya Singleton said she won't talk to authorities.
Singleton spent seven months in jail for failing to testify in front of the grand jury. She is accused of helping one of Hernandez's co-defendants, Ernest Wallace, flee Georgia.
In another phone conversation, Hernandez told Singleton that he set up trust funds for her two sons with up to $100,000 but his attorney said he never put any money in the trust.
It is not yet clear exactly which calls could be used as evidence.
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