Prosecutors push for cellphone evidence at Hernandez trial
BOSTON — Prosecutors are again asking a judge to allow them to use the contents of former New England Patriots star Aaron Hernandez’s cellphone as evidence in his upcoming double murder trial.
Lawyers for Hernandez argue that authorities learned about the phone through confidential communications between Hernandez and his sports agent, Brian Murphy, who is also an attorney. They have requested that the contents be barred as evidence.
But in a written response released Friday, prosecutors said Hernandez has not established that he has a protected attorney-client relationship with Murphy. They said Murphy has been administratively suspended from practicing law and does not maintain a legal practice as a sports agent in California.
“The defendant’s ‘sports agent relationship’ with Murphy alone does not and cannot protect their communications,” prosecutors from Suffolk District Attorney Daniel Conley’s office argued in the court filing.