ABC News is reporting that former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez will be formally indicted on first-degree murder charges today during his much anticipated probable cause hearing.
Hernandez, 23, has been jailed and relegated to solitary confinement at the Bristol County House of Corrections since late June in connection with the execution-style slaying of former semi-pro football player and one-time associate Odin Lloyd.
Police discovered Lloyd’s bullet-riddled body less than a mile from Hernandez’s North Attleborough mansion and have since theorized the one-time NFL star may have been motivated by his growing distrust of Lloyd related to an unsolved 2012 double slaying in Boston authorities also suspect him.
Instead of laying out their case against Hernandez during the hearing, ABC reports Bristol County prosecutors have elected to officially arraign him. The network also reports investigators pushed to get an indictment prior to today’s hearing because they feared Hernandez’s lawyers might otherwise seek to have him released on bail.
The indictment comes after prosecutors requested and received a 30-day extension last month before officially outlining their case to Hernandez’s team of high-powered attorneys.
Meanwhile, Boston police are also continuing their probe of Hernandez and his alleged involvement in the Boston killing. In that drive-by incident, two 23-year-old men were left two dead near a downtown nightclub they had been drinking in earlier that evening.
Witnesses have told police Hernandez argued with the men at the club hours before the shooting and a rental car believed to be used in the crime has been recovered from the garage of his uncle.
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