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The former New England Patriots tight end was found guilty in
April of murdering an acquaintance, Odin Lloyd, in 2013, and
sentenced to life in prison at the end of the first of two
murder trials he will face this year.
Following his conviction, his lawyers told the court they had
been called by a person who gave her name only as "Katy," who
they said claimed to have known one of the jurors who found
Hernandez guilty and to have also known that the juror was aware
that Hernandez was also charged with a 2012 double homicide.
The judge in Hernandez's first trial of the year had ruled that
jurors in the case, tried at Bristol County Superior Court in
Fall River, Massachusetts, not be told that Hernandez would also
be tried in Boston for allegedly murdering two Cape Verdean
nationals outside a nightclub.
Proof that a juror in the case had lied about his or her
knowledge of Hernandez or had discussed the case outside of
court could be grounds for the conviction to be overturned.
Defense lawyers had asked the judge in the case to call the
anonymous witness into court to be questioned under oath.
Prosecutors said in a court filing on Monday they had learned
that the person, whose name they said is not "Katy" but which
they did not disclose, had "an ongoing sexually explicit
relationship with the defendant prior to and during the trial."
They contended that the person had believed her relationship
with Hernandez would continue after his trial if he were found
innocent.
Hernandez' lawyers could not be reached for immediate comment.
The Patriots cut Hernandez, a rising star with a $41 million
contract, hours after his arrest on June 26, 2013, nine days
after a teenage jogger found Lloyd's body and Hernandez was
charged in his killing.
He was later charged with fatally shooting Daniel Abreu and
Safirdo Furtado outside a nightclub after one of them spilled a
drink.
Hernandez is due to stand trial for those murders, as well as
charges of trying to intimidate a witness by shooting him in the
face, later this year.
(Editing by Eric Walsh)
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