Judge
approves subpoena to find source of Hernandez juror tip
Hernandez who was convicted of murder in April for the
shooting and killing of Odin Lloyd, a semiprofessional football player who was
dating the sister of his fiancée. He is now serving a life sentence.
Lawyers for former New England Patriots player Aaron
Hernandez can take steps to identify an anonymous tipster who claimed that one
of the jurors who convicted him of murder may have lied during jury selection,
a judge ruled Friday.
Judge Susan Garsh ruled that Verizon can be subpoenaed to
determine the identity of the tipster who called attorney James Sultan in
April, after Hernandez was convicted in the 2013 killing of Lloyd.
The judge said the caller's credibility can be determined
only by first learning her identity.
Sultan said the tipster called him from a blocked number saying
the juror was present for a discussion about a Boston double murder Hernandez
is also accused of committing. [ Hernandez who pleaded not guilty in the 2012
killings of two men in Boston. Prosecutors allege that Hernandez shot the men
while their car was stopped at a light after becoming enraged when one of them
bumped into him at a nightclub and caused him to spill his drink.]
The jurors weren't told about that case during the trial.
Prosecutors objected to the subpoena, arguing that in order
to get a judge to question a juror after a verdict is returned, a defendant must
prove that an "extrinsic influence" may have affected the juror's
impartiality.
Garsh, though, said she has not agreed at this point to a
post-verdict inquiry of the juror, but only for a subpoena so Hernandez's
lawyers can determine the identity of the tipster.
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