Judge Allows Police Video of Phone Call in Hernandez Trial

Less than two hours of testimony has been given this week

After a week plagued by snow days and scheduling issues, the murder trial of former New England Patriots player Aaron Hernandez resumed just before 10 a.m. Friday.

Less than two hours of testimony has been given this week.

Monday and Tuesday were canceled because of snow. The judge then cited unspecified scheduling issues when she ended court at 11 a.m. Wednesday and canceled Thursday's session.

Even before the jury entered the courtroom on Friday, Judge Susan Garsh denied a request by Hernandez's defense to bar police surveillance video that shows him using a lawyer's phone to call one of his co-defendants the day after the killing.

The video was taken in the parking lot of the North Attleborough, Massachusetts, police station on June 18, 2013, the day after Odin Lloyd was killed.

Prosecutors say it shows Hernandez sitting in the car and dismantling his phone, then being given a new phone by his lawyer. Prosecutors say Hernandez is seen using the phone and calling co-defendant Ernest Wallace.

Garsh said the jury will not be told where the phone came from, just that it didn't belong to Hernandez.

Hernandez is accused in the 2013 killing of Lloyd, a semi-professional football player who was dating the sister of his fiancée.

Recent testimony has been by police officers who responded to the North Attleborough industrial park where Lloyd's body was found. Officers have testified about how they handled evidence, including shell casings, tire tracks and a white towel.

Hernandez's lawyers have tried to portray the investigation as shoddy. 

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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