Patriots' Hernandez questioned by police in homicide probe

[PatsDeb]

You never willingly consent to let the police search your house. You willingly let them search your house without a warrant and anything they find is fair game. They can search anywhere in the house unless you stop them and can seize any evidence for any crime.

With a warrant, the scope of where they can look (assuming they are saying they are searching Hernandez's things, they cannot search the room of person living with them) and what evidence they are looking for. It protects Hernandez from them trying to drum up other charges to hold him if they are trying to build a case against him. Granted if they do find evidence of another felony, they can always obtain a new warrant.

It may make him look guilty to the public, but Hernandez is doing the right thing even if he is 100% innocent. He hasn't been ruled out as a suspect. Until he is (and even after to be perfectly honest), he shouldn't give unlimited cooperation to the police. Too many people who do end up going to jail even if they are 100% innocent.

I will tell you right now that if the police ever wanted to question me about a felony unless they were 100% sure I was only a witness, I would lawyer up and not give them unlimited access to my home.

This is absolutely correct advice.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

Do you have a link?

No, but you might just read the tweets on the upper right of this page

 

[belichick010405]

Away from the personal attacks and cat fights, news is that the victim semi-pro football player Odin Lloyd dated the sister of Hernandez's girl friend, so there's an association that LE would need to investigate.

Pats - is this true and do you have a source by chance regarding this guy and the sister of Hernandez's girlfriend? I saw that reference of him being a semi-pro football player in Boston already.

 

[Mack Herron]

Hernandez just signed a new contract. As a matter of pure speculation, if he were released, how much would Kraft be in for and what would be the implications for the salary cap?

 

[PP2]

Do you have a link?

WBZ-TV is reporting family of Odin Lloyd has told them the nature of the relationship between Lloyd and Herandez, namely the relationship between the girls they were dating.

 

[BradyFTW!]

Now that we know the victim was dating the sister of Hernandez's girlfriend*. My gut tells me Hernandez was renting the car for the victim to use.

I just have a difficult time thinking Hernandez killed the guy and then just left him in a car rented in his name.


*WBZ reported it.

That would make him one of the dumbest criminals in history, but similarly dumb things can and do happen. I'm hoping that it's what you said, although the fact that the police took two people from Hernandez's home could complicate that a little. Apparently those two men were not arrested, though, and just went in for questioning. Maybe/hopefully they were witnesses to the murder in some way, as opposed to actually committing it.

That would probably be the 'ideal' situation, as far as Hernandez is concerned, and his refusal to let the cops in without a warrant would be either on general principle (advice that his lawyer unilaterally drilled into him), or due to the fact that he has bongs and weed all over his house (let's be honest: would that even mildly surprise anyone?).

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

Hernandez just signed a new contract. As a matter of pure speculation, if he were released, how much would Kraft be in for and what would be the implications for the salary cap?

Many megabucks, won't happen

As always, go to...

Miguel's UNOFFICIAL 2013 Patriots Salary Cap Information Page

 

[Mack Herron]

Not sure if this was posted already, but ABC seeems to have flip-flopped on this:

Hernandez was cooperative with police Tuesday night, sources told ABC News. The investigation is expected to continue through the week.

Aaron Hernandez's rental car to be searched - ABC - ESPN Boston

 

[JMC00]

You never willingly consent to let the police search your house. You willingly let them search your house without a warrant and anything they find is fair game. They can search anywhere in the house unless you stop them and can seize any evidence for any crime.

With a warrant, the scope of where they can look (assuming they are saying they are searching Hernandez's things, they cannot search the room of person living with them) and what evidence they are looking for. It protects Hernandez from them trying to drum up other charges to hold him if they are trying to build a case against him. Granted if they do find evidence of another felony, they can always obtain a new warrant.

It may make him look guilty to the public, but Hernandez is doing the right thing even if he is 100% innocent. He hasn't been ruled out as a suspect. Until he is (and even after to be perfectly honest), he shouldn't give unlimited cooperation to the police. Too many people who do end up going to jail even if they are 100% innocent.

I will tell you right now that if the police ever wanted to question me about a felony unless they were 100% sure I was only a witness, I would lawyer up and not give them unlimited access to my home.

Yep.

To the cops it is all about closing the case and sometimes that means and I know cops on the board will fight me tooth and nail but sometimes it means arresting someone that is innocent because that person didn't have proper legal advice and the evidence they had to get the arrest warrant is weak at best that any decent attorney would have picked apart and put holes so big you could drive a truck through.

 

[Ironman44]

Any way you slice this and no matter how it turns out Hernandez needs to be very careful who he associates himself with going forward.

 

[Mack Herron]

Many megabucks, won't happen

As always, go to...

Miguel's UNOFFICIAL 2013 Patriots Salary Cap Information Page

Thanks, always good advice. Cap hit = $5M with savings of $1.5. Agree of course that this is a remote possibility.

 

[belichick010405]

Very interesting, thanks for the explanation. Definitely something that we should all be aware of, considering that this is now the law of the land as of last week. I may be reading it wrong, but doesn't this precedent mean that it's even more the case that that "voluntarily inviting questioning" is a generally terrible idea?

For example, what if Hernandez is somehow connected to the crime, but he does not realize that that's the case at the outset/doesn't realize exactly what they're questioning him about. This means that, if he does not claim 5th Amendment protection immediately--prior to the beginning of the questioning--then he forfeits his 5th Amendment rights for the duration of questioning, even as it later becomes apparent that he's in a position of incriminating himself?

Sounds like a very odd precedent, to me, but if it's law then it's law. If anything, it seems like it cements the best course of action as being to invoke the 5th Amendment the moment the police attempt to begin questioning you, even if you're not currently aware of any crime/connection, just on the off chance that you may turn out to be incidentally involved in whatever it is that they're investigating. That would look pretty bad in front of a jury, though.

The Salinas case, as far as I am concerned, is an odd precedent because Salinas was fool hardy enough to think that voluntarily wanting to cooperate with law enforcement would be enough to throw off the scent in another direction. Furthermore, Salinas was also stupid enough that he attempted to evade law enforcement of which he successfully did for a number of years.

The best thing that anyone can do is to cooperate with law enforcement through the guidance of legal counsel and franky, if I am Aaron Hernandez, I would have advised him, if I were his agent, to to get a letter from his counsel for law enforcement that states he is using his 5th Amendment protections and request that law enforcement obtain a search and or material warrant so that he can legally cooperate under the guidance of the warrant while being protected under the 5th Amendment in case he was a person of interest.

This not only protects Aaron but also shows explicit cooperation without having to be defined as someone in a custodial or non-custodial state.

 

[PP2]

Now that we know the victim was dating the sister of Hernandez's girlfriend*. My gut tells me Hernandez was renting the car for the victim to use.

I just have a difficult time thinking Hernandez killed the guy and then just left him in a car rented in his name.

He only has to be complicit (never mind being the actual "killer") to be in deep trouble. Either that or withholding any type of information.

The nature of the relationship of Odin Lloyd to Hernandez, namely that he was dating the sister of Hernandez's girlfriend, and the fact that his body was found in proximity to Hernandez's house is just too much of a coincidence for this matter to be dismissed lightly. Even if Lloyd's death was somehow drug-related, it still remains that North Attleboro isn't exactly known for being a drug zone.

Without having first-hand knowledge, I'd still venture to say that Hernandez unfortunately had a hand in what happened, even if indirectly or without his knowledge. One of the things I would be looking for is if Lloyd was in any way abusive to his girlfriend, physically or verbally, if he was in any way a threat to her.

 

[goheels22002]

I pointed out that I was a lawyer. End of story

This is the biggest revelation on this entire message board. So, Counselor, is it safe to say that if you send us a bill for your legal services - and we pay it - it will serve as exculpatory evidence should we need to invoke an insanity defense?

The check is in the mail, and I'll respect you in the morning.

 

[Rob0729]

Now that we know the victim was dating the sister of Hernandez's girlfriend*. My gut tells me Hernandez was renting the car for the victim to use.

I just have a difficult time thinking Hernandez killed the guy and then just left him in a car rented in his name.


*WBZ reported it.

If that is the case, Hernandez looks like a victim of coincidence that he was killed in a car rented by him.

Does anyone know if Hernandez's girlfriend's sister lives with them. The police may be searching the house for evidence on her.

 

[BradyFTW!]

If that is the case, Hernandez looks like a victim of coincidence that he was killed in a car rented by him.

Does anyone know if Hernandez's girlfriend's sister lives with them. The police may be searching the house for evidence on her.

Given that the body was found a mile from Hernandez's house, it wouldn't surprise me if the victim himself was staying with him.

 

[dannydyn]

Too much vague information that is not enough to draw any conclusions:

1. Not wanting to cooperate could be nothing more than saying: “I’m sorry, but I’m saying nothing until my attorney arrives” (very smart)

2. Not willing to let the cops search without a warrant is not something unthinkable. We’re talking about a high-profile person here, and if you put yourself in Hernandez’s shoes for a second, you’d realize that even if you have nothing to hide in connection with this murder, you still wouldn't want strangers going through your personal stuff. The guy could have a mega gay-porn collection for all we know, that he won’t feel comfortable with the avg. Joe cop seeing and running to tell the tabloids about…. Who knows… Or maybe he’s got some pot stashed in the house (nothing to do with the murder), but obviously doesn't want the cops to find. The bottom line is that Hernandez knows his rights, and doesn't have to let anyone in if he doesn't want to. Let them get a warrant first, if it’s that important .

3. I doubt AH is dumb enough to:
a. Do anything remotely as stupid as killing someone
b. Rent a car in his name/address to be used in a murder (even if he hired someone to do the job for him)
c. Leave the car at the scene

4. We’re on day two now, on what appears to be a very clear cut with regards to whether Aaron is involved in this or not (car in his name, registered to his address). The fact that he hasn't been arrested, means he probably won’t (hope I’m right here).

 

[Rob0729]

Given that the body was found a mile from Hernandez's house, it wouldn't surprise me if the victim himself was staying with him.

And the fact he was in a car rented by Hernandez.

 

[PP2]

Given that the body was found a mile from Hernandez's house, it wouldn't surprise me if the victim himself was staying with him.

Victim has been living with his Uncle in Dorchester for many years, according to the Uncle.

 

[TruthSeeker]

If that is the case, Hernandez looks like a victim of coincidence that he was killed in a car rented by him.

Does anyone know if Hernandez's girlfriend's sister lives with them. The police may be searching the house for evidence on her.

Interesting. I wonder if this was a former jilted lover of Hernandez's girlfriend's sister killing the new lover. Crime of passion (Obviously). Just praying Hernandez was not involved, and hearing that the victim was dating Hernandez's GF's sister, makes me think he wasn't involved.