Aaron Hernandez Trial: Defense Resolves Patriots Personnel Record Dispute

An agreement has been reached between Aaron Hernandez and his former NFL team. The two sides had been engaged in a dispute over certain team records that the New England Patriots has concerning the former tight end.

The defense was looking to obtain medical tests and a scouting report from New England. While the Patriots were willing to give up 317 pages of records, they refused to hand over an additional 10 pages. The matter has been resolved, as a hearing was canceled on Tuesday, but it hasn’t been confirmed whether or not the defense received what it was looking for.

Hernandez has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Odin Lloyd in June of last year. As the defense looks to keep the ex-football player out of jail, they could turn to the Patriots’ psychological assessment for help. By Sept. 30, the defense will announce whether or not it will attempt to prove that a mental health issue was a part of Hernandez’s role in the death of Odin Lloyd.

“Any record bearing on a defendant's psychological function, illnesses or afflictions, addiction, cognitive ability, social interactions, behavior under stress, relationship with authority and other such factors are undeniably relevant to the defense of an individual charged with first degree murder," defense attorney Michael Fee wrote in a motion to a Massachusetts superior court judge in early July.

Andrew Phelan, the Patriots’ lawyer, has refused to comment on the situation. When the team initially decided not to hand over the documents to Hernandez’s team, Phelan said the scouting reports had nothing to do with the case, claiming they contained “trade secrets.”

Hernandez was released by New England on the day he went to prison, after having spent three seasons with the team. Less than a year before his arrest, Hernandez agreed to a five-year contract with the team that guaranteed him $16 million, with a chance to earn $40 million in additional money.

After Hernandez’s team ended their attempt to subpoena the Patriots, a tentative trial date was set for Jan. 9, 2015. Hernandez was arrested for Lloyd’s murder on June 26, 2013.

Lloyd’s death isn't the only one that is being pinned in Hernandez. The former NFL star is being charged for two more murders in a separate case. Authorities believe he is the man responsible for a shooting in July 2012 in Boston, which killed Daniel Abreu and Safiro Furtado.