Former NFL star Aaron Hernandez appears on the verge of being declared indigent, but still may be able to keep his team of high-priced lawyers in the two first-degree cases he faces.
In recent weeks, Hernandez, who made at least $11.2 million in his three seasons with the New England Patriots, has struggled in paying off his legal expenses, recently prompting at least two of his attorneys to notify the court they might not be able to continue representing him for much longer.
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But according to FoxNews.com, all of Hernandez's attorneys could be eligible to be paid through a fund set up as part of the Massachusetts state budget to aid financially strapped defendants such as Hernandez.
The 24-year-old Hernandez has been jailed without bail and held in solitary confinement at the Bristol County Jail since June of last year in the execution style-killing of one-time associate Odin Lloyd. More recently, authorities indicted him on two counts of murder stemming from a 2012 drive-by, double slaying in downtown Boston where Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado were both killed.
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Fox adds Hernandez still owns the 11-room, North Attleborough home, valued at around $1.3 million, where he was residing at the time of his arrest, but it's tied up in a civil suit filed by the family of one of his alleged victims and therefore can not be used as an asset. Hernandez attorneys also allege he is still owed more than $3 million by the Patriots stemming from guaranteed money called for by the terms of his contract for the years 2013 and 2014, but thus far the team has refused to pay, prompting the NFL players union to file a grievance on his behalf.
Hernandez is due back in court June 16 for the Lloyd case and June 24 in the double-slaying case.
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