Aaron Hernandez Update: Tanya Singleton, cousin of former NFL star, pleads not guilty to contempt. FALL RIVER, Mass. - Tanya Singleton, a cousin of former New England Patriot Aaron Hernandez, has pleaded not guilty to a contempt charge for allegedly refusing to testify before the grand jury that indicted Hernandez in the murder of Odin Lloyd.
Singleton entered her plea Friday in a Fall River court. She was ordered held without bail and is due back in court Oct. 3. Singleton's attorney declined to comment following the hearing, saying only, "She's doing good," Boston.com reports.
Bristol County District Attorney Samuel Sutter says Singleton refused to testify after she was offered immunity.
Singleton has been behind bars since Aug. 1. She is accused of buying a bus ticket for Hernandez associate Ernest Wallace so he could flee to Florida days after the murder of the 27-year-old Lloyd, Boston.com reports.
Wallace was indicted along with Hernandez Thursday in the death of Lloyd, a semi-professional football player from Boston who was dating the sister of Hernandez's girlfriend.
Hernandez, 23, was indicted on first-degree murder and weapons charges. He pleaded not guilty to those charges in district court in June and is being held without bail. Hernandez's arraignment in superior court could come next week, Sutter said. He could face life in prison if convicted.
Wallace was indicted with accessory to murder after the fact. He pleaded not guilty earlier in district court. Prosecutors have said he was with Hernandez the night Lloyd died.
Carlos Ortiz, another Hernandez associate, faces a weapons charge in connection with the case. He has not been indicted.
A jogger found Lloyd's body on June 17 in a North Attleborough industrial park about a mile from Hernandez's home. Prosecutors say Hernandez orchestrated the killing because he was upset at Lloyd for talking to people Hernandez had problems with at a nightclub days earlier. They say Hernandez, Wallace and Ortiz picked Lloyd up at his home in Boston's Dorchester neighborhood early on June 17 and then drove to the industrial park.
Authorities have not said who fired the shots, but according to court documents released in Florida, Ortiz told police that Wallace said it was Hernandez.
Posts
