Jury selection in the Aaron Hernandez double murder trial is slated to kick off in early 2016.

According to the Boston Globe, formal proceedings against the former NFL star in connection with the 2012 drive-by slaying in downtown Boston are set to commence on Jan. 19, 2016. The 25-year-old Hernandez is already jailed for life without the possibility of parole stemming from his 2014 conviction in the execution-style killing of onetime associate Odin Lloyd.

In the Boston shooting, Hernandez is accused of gunning down Safiro Furtado and Daniel de Abreu at a stoplight outside a nightclub after one of the men accidentally spilled a drink on him in the club earlier that night and failed to apologize.

Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Locke set the new trial date earlier this month after spending about two hours meeting with Hernandez's defense attorneys and prosecutors from Suffolk District Attorney's office.

Currently being held at the Souza-Baranowski maximum security prison, attorneys for Hernandez have already filed several motions seeking to have his first-degree murder conviction overturned on the grounds of jury misconduct.

In one instance, defense attorneys contend a juror who voted to convict their client may have mislead the court to gain a seat on the jury panel. In another filing, Hernandez's team argues there was not enough evidence for jurors to convict him on the legal theory that the Lloyd shooting was committed with "extreme atrocity or cruelty'' as required by state law.

"There was nothing particularly 'extreme' about this case when compared to numerous other killings involving the use of a handgun,'' the defense attorneys wrote in the filing, which is a standard legal tactic after a defendant is convicted.

The defense also argued before Bristol Superior Judge E. Susan Garsh that prosecutors, perhaps tactfully so, made several factual errors to jurors during their closing argument.