Updated 04:03 PM EDT, Thu, Mar 28, 2024

Aaron Hernandez Trial Update: Judge Approves Lawyers' Request to Question Tipster

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The lawyers of convicted murder and former NFL star Aaron Hernandez can now question the tipster who claimed that a juror during his trial was biased after a judge approved the request for questioning of Hernandez's camp.

The Guardian said Superior Court Judge Susan Garsh gave the go-signal to Hernadez's lawyer James Sultan on Tuesday.

Yahoo Sports also reported that Garsh earlier ruled that the members of the jury for the murder of Odin Lloyd should not be informed of the double murder that Lloyd is also facing.

"Such knowledge could be grounds for Hernandez' conviction to be overturned," added the same report.

In ruling to allow the female tipster to be questioned, Garsh said this will determine if her statement would need further action from the court.

"This court is simply ruling on whether to permit an examination under oath of the caller so that the parties can assess her credibility and decide whether to request that further action be taken by the court," Garsh penned in her order.

Garsh added that the court is also not concluding that the testimonies of the tipster are not true simply based on alleged inconsistencies.

"The noted inconsistencies in the caller's reported statements do not render her accusations inherently implausible or compel a conclusion that the caller's accusations are false," the judge added.

There was reportedly an objection from the prosecution but the judge overruled.

She added that the questioning of the female informant will be in court in the presence of Hernandez but it will not be open to the public.

Sultan earlier said in court documents that a female tipster first phoned him a day after Hernandez's conviction, according to ESPN.

The counsel said the caller would not reveal her identity even if she called him several times using a blocked number.

In their conversations, the tipster said that the juror had been present during one of the discussions of Hernandez's double-murder trial in Boston, which was barred from any discussion during the Lloyd murder trial.

"She told me she does not want [redacted] into trouble, but it is on her conscience that she knows some information which may be important," the lawyer wrote in the documents.

He furthered that if that particular member of the jury disclosed knowing about the case, the defense team would have the juror excused.

In May, Hernandez pleaded not guilty to the witness intimidation charge of former pal Alexander Bradley.

The Washington Post  reported that this was the same plea he entered for the double murder case he is also facing for allegedly killing Safiro Furtado and Daniel Abreu in 2012.

Bradley was said to be Hernandez's companion when the two were killed in Boston.

In April, the 25-year old Hernandez was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole, after a jury found him guilty of first degree murder for the 2013 death of Lloyd.

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