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Lawyer says no warrant for Aaron Hernandez

Denies reports of arrest order

(Boston Globe) State troopers searched a swampy area near the home of New England Patriots player Aaron Hernandez, who is embroiled in a murder investigation. By Colin A. Young/Globe Correspondent, June 24, 2013.
(Boston Globe) State troopers searched a swampy area near the home of New England Patriots player Aaron Hernandez, who is embroiled in a murder investigation. By Colin A. Young/Globe Correspondent, June 24, 2013.

NORTH ATTLEBOROUGH — The lawyer for New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez refuted Monday published reports that an arrest warrant had been issued for the star player in connection with an ongoing investigation of the slaying of an acquaintance of his.

Michael K. Fee of the firm Ropes & Gray LLP said Monday night in a statement that Hernandez has been “the subject of a relentless flood of rumors, misinformation, and false reports in the media” over the last week.

“These include the repeated publication of a supposedly confirmed report that an arrest warrant had been issued for Aaron, a report that was exposed as untrue,” Fee said.

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“None of these false reports come from official sources, and we appreciate the professionalism and restraint shown by the Bristol County district attorney’s office to date with regard to its public statements while its investigation is underway. Out of respect for that ongoing investigation, we will continue to refrain from commenting on its substance.”

The Globe has not reported that an arrest warrant has been issued for Hernandez.

Earlier Monday, a State Police search of a stream near his North Attleborough home did not result in the recovery of any evidence in the killing of his acquaintance, Odin L. Lloyd. State Police, including some troopers wearing wetsuits and one carrying what appeared to be a metal detector, descended on a wooded area along Homeward Lane, a short distance from the Hernandez home on Ronald C. Meyer Drive Monday morning.

But shortly before noon, one of the investigators who had been searching in the stream emerged and told reporters that nothing had been found. When asked what they were looking for, the investigator, who declined to be identified by name, would only say “evidence.”

Lloyd, 27, was found shot to death June 17 in an industrial park about a mile from Hernandez’s home. The Globe has reported that police have obtained video footage showing Hernandez with Lloyd in the hours before the killing.

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On Saturday, State Police searched Hernandez’s home, spending four hours inside before departing with about half a dozen brown paper bags of possible evidence.

Hernandez was spotted briefly around 8:30 p.m. Sunday when he peeked out the window near the front door of his house, but he has not been seen emerging from his home since he returned from his lawyer’s office in Boston’s Prudential Center Friday afternoon. He has not spoken publicly about the case. At about 2 p.m. Monday, a woman driving the white Audi sport utility vehicle that he drove Thursday backed out of the garage and then drove away from the house.

At about 4:45 p.m., a black SUV drove quickly up Hernandez’s driveway and parked in one of the garage bays. It was unclear who was driving.

On Monday morning, more than 30 members of news crews, including television crews, reporters, and technicians, were gathered on the sidewalk and in a vacant lot across from Hernandez’s home, but the numbers were dwindling by evening.


Travis Andersen of the Globe staff and Globe correspondent Juliet Pennington contributed to this report. Colin Young can be reached at colin.young@
globe.com
. Follow him on Twitter @ColinAYoung.