Aaron Hernandez was back in court on Monday for a pre-trial hearing before his murder trial begins next month and a judge order that his Hummer SUV be returned.
According to the Boston Herald, prosecutors agreed to allow the vehicle and keys to be returned since neither will be used as evidence in the upcoming trial.
When Hernandez’ attorney Bill Rankin said it was unlikely that those items would need to be introduced at the murder trial, the state did not object.
ESPN noted that the former New England Patriots star spoke briefly only to answer “yes” to a series of questions asked by Judge E. Susan Garsh during his court appearance.
Hernandez has pleaded not guilty to the June 2013 murder of semi-professional football player Odin Lloyd. Jury selection for the trial will begin next month.
The former NFL tight end has also plead not guilty to the murder of two men outside a Boston nightclub in 2012. A separate trial for that case will start sometime after the Lloyd case concludes. Garsh said that prosecutors cannot talk about the nightclub killings during the first murder trial.
The judge also ruled that prosecutors could not submit into evidence the final text message Lloyd sent to his sister minutes before he was shot which read, ‘‘U saw who I'm with.’’