WPRO News and the Associated Press
FALL RIVER, Mass. (AP) – Lawyers for former New England Patriots player Aaron Hernandez are set to go before a judge to argue that his trial in the 2013 killing of a semiprofessional football player should be moved because of intense pretrial media coverage.
A hearing is scheduled Thursday in Fall River Superior Court.
Hernandez’s lawyers argued in a court filing that a “relentless avalanche of pretrial publicity” has had a “devastating effort” on the jury pool in the area of southeastern Massachusetts, where the killing took place.
Hernandez has pleaded not guilty in the shooting death of Odin Lloyd, who’d been dating the sister of Hernandez’s fiancee. Hernandez’s lawyers have said a poll they commissioned found that 7 in 10 adults in Bristol County believe Hernandez is either definitely or probably guilty.
Prosecutors oppose the request.
