Local News

Prosecutors push for cellphone evidence at Aaron Hernandez trial

FILE - In this Thursday, July 21, 2016 file photo, Former New England Patriots wide receiver Aaron Hernandez, left, looks down the table at his legal team as his new defense attorney Jose Baez, right, takes a seat during a court appearance at Plymouth Superior Court in Plymouth, Mass. Hernandez is due in Suffolk Superior Court on Tuesday, Aug. 16, for a hearing in the 2012 killings of two men outside a Boston nightclub. Hernandez has pleaded not guilty. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, Pool, File) The Associated Press

By Associated Press

1 minute to read

BOSTON (AP) — Massachusetts prosecutors have asked a judge to reject a request from former New England Patriots star Aaron Hernandez to bar them from using the contents of his cellphone as evidence in his upcoming double murder trial.

Lawyers for Hernandez argue that authorities learned about the phone through confidential communications between Hernandez and his sports agent, Brian Murphy, who is also an attorney.

But in a written response released Friday, prosecutors said Hernandez has not established that he has a protected attorney-client relationship with Murphy.

Prosecutors say Hernandez is scheduled to go on trial in February in the 2012 shooting deaths of two men he encountered at a Boston nightclub. He’s already serving a life sentence in the 2013 killing of semi-professional football player Odin Lloyd.

Advertisement:

Hernandez has pleaded not guilty.