Aaron Hernandez Murder Trial Update: Alleged Accomplice Carlos Ortiz Seeks to Dismiss Odin Lloyd Indictment
Aaron Hernandez's onetime friend Carlos Ortiz, named as one of his accomplices in the Odin Lloyd killing, is seeking to have his own indictment in the case tossed out.
The Hartford Courant reports attorneys for Ortiz recently filed a motion charging the grand jury that moved to indict him on murder charges did not have sufficient evidence to justify their actions.
The 25-year-old Hernandez has already been found guilty in the case and sentenced to life in prison without parole. Both Ortiz and fellow alleged accomplice Ernest Wallace have yet to be tried.
Lloyd's bullet-riddled body was found not far from the former New England Patriots star tight end's North Attleborough mansion in June 2013. Authorities have long suspected he was killed over Hernandez's fear that he knew too much about other violent crimes the former NFL star is suspected of being involved in.
Hernandez is also slated to go on trial sometime next year on double-murder charges stemming from the 2012 drive-by shooting deaths of Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado. In that case, investigators allege Hernandez opened fire on the two men at a stoplight outside a downtown Boston nightclub, after one of them accidentally spilled a drink on Hernandez earlier in the evening without apologizing.
Lawyers for Hernandez recently asked a judge to invalidate a 2012 search warrant that led to the seizure of the vehicle believed to be used in the drive-by slayings. The request alleges the warrant was obtained based on information supplied by Ortiz, who later failed a polygraph exam.
Hernandez also faces charges of shooting a witness to the 2012 violence and leaving him for dead. Alexander Bradley, a former acquaintance of the ex-NFL star, lost an eye in the brazen act. Prosecutors allege the attack was prompted when Bradley made a remark about the double shooting that greatly angered Hernandez, leaving him convinced Bradley could no longer be trusted.
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