The Aaron Hernandez murder case will be in court again in October and while the former Patriots tight end awaits news about a trial, the other accomplices in the crime have been in and out of court, including both Carlos Ortiz and Ernest Wallace, two men also charged with crimes in the shooting death of Odin Lloyd.
The case against Hernandez looks clear cut in the eyes of the state, but the defense has called the evidence circumstantial and the witness testimony not credible and they could be right on that last account. Previous reports had Carlos Ortiz saying that Ernest Wallace told him that Hernandez admitted to doing the shooting. Ortiz spoke with investigators and gave them testimony, saying that both Wallace and Hernandez got out of the car when the three drove with Lloyd to the industrial park where he was later killed.
Now, according to Pro Football Talk, Ortiz is changing up his story and that could mean trouble for the state as they try to convict Hernandez. The report says that new information came out in the latest bail hearing for Ernest Wallace, as the prosecution admitted that Ortiz changed his story, saying that Hernandez was the only one to step out of the car the night of the murder at the industrial park. The report says that it changes the previous story and that also Wallace is being kept in jail on $500,000 bail.
The state was already going to have a tough time with the case since the murder weapon has not been found yet, but this could be a crippling blow. The state was hoping to use Ortiz as a key witness and the defense likely was going to try and discredit him as a drug addict and an unsavory person and now that he is changing his story, that could put the state in a tough situation as they argue the case.
Some things are not up for debate, including the fact that Hernandez was seen with a gun the night of the murder in his home and his car also returned home soon after the gunshots were thought to go off. The body was found on June 18 and Hernandez was arrested the following week and that was when the Patriots released him. Authorities said that shell casings were found at the scene and that Lloyd was shot five times.
Lawyers have painted Hernandez as the ringleader in the murder, saying that it stemmed from a dispute between the two men at a nightclub. Hernandez has been locked up since and has been denied bail multiple times and now he will be back in court in October. The case has moved to superior court, where Hernandez was arraigned earlier in the month and now things will start moving toward the trial scheduling phase and things could start building towards an actual date.
