Motion to suppress cellphone evidence denied in Hernandez case

A judge on Friday denied ex-New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez's motion to suppress cell phone evidence.

A prosecutor testified late last month that Hernandez's lawyers said that Hernandez would surrender the phone if required by a warrant. The prosecutor said one of Hernandez's lawyers reviewed the warrant that was issued and arranged to submit it to police. Hernandez's lawyers argued that the warrant did not empower authorities to take the phone from them due to a "false claim of legal authority."

The judge rejected that argument. From The Boston Globe:

“The turning over of the phone was a voluntary act. It was not the result of force, threat, trickery, duress, or coercion,” she said.

The judge said Friday that evidence procured in a search of Hernandez's apartment could be used in the trial over the the 2013 killing of semi-pro football player Odin L. Lloyd. The trial is scheduled to start on Jan. 9. The judge also said that perjury charges against Hernandez's girlfriend, Shayanna Jenkins, over the investigation of Lloyd's murder would not be thrown out.

Hernandez has pleaded not guilty in the Lloyd case as well as in a separate case over a double homicide outside of a Boston night club in 2012.

- Chris Johnson