Aaron Hernandez is already serving a life sentence for the 2013 murder of Odin Lloyd, but the former Patriots tight end could be in even more trouble thanks to the testimony of an eyewitness in another shooting.
According to the Associated Press, a man named Raychides Sanches has identified Hernandez as the triggerman in a drive-by double murder that took place in the South End of Boston on July 16, 2012.
Prosecutors on Tuesday asked Raychides Sanches to describe the chaotic scene during a hearing in Suffolk Superior Court.
When asked who the shooter was, Sanches said “Hernandez” and nodded in his direction.
Sanches made the identification at a pretrial hearing for Hernandez, who is charged in the deaths of Safiro Furtado and Daniel de Abreu.
At the time of the alleged murder, Hernandez was six weeks from the start of his third (and ultimately final) NFL season. The following June, he was charged with first-degree murder in connection with Lloyd’s death and immediately released from the Patriots. Hernandez was under indictment in that shooting when, in 2014, he was indicted on murder charges in the deaths of Furtado and Abreu.
Tuesday’s hearing dealt with a number of pre-trial issues. The trial is scheduled to begin Feb. 13, though Hernandez’s lawyers have requested it be delayed.
The result of this latest trial almost certainly won’t have severe consequences for Hernandez, given that he is already serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole.
