Judge denies bid to suppress Aaron Hernandez phone evidence

BOSTON - A judge has denied a motion filed on behalf of former NFL star Aaron Hernandez to suppress evidence from his cellphone in his upcoming murder trial, reports the Boston Globe.

Lawyers for the former New England Patriots tight end asked a judge to throw out the cellphone evidence, saying state police didn't have a warrant to take it after his arrest last year.

Prosecutors argued Hernandez's lawyers agreed to turn the phone over to investigators.

Judge E. Susan Garsh wrote in a ruling on the matter, "The turning over of the phone was a voluntary act. It was not the result of force, threat, trickery, duress, or coercion," reports the Globe.

According to the paper, the judge did suppress one item of evidence: a white towel found in Hernandez's home. Last week, Garsh also threw out bullets found in Hernandez's apartment and an ammunition magazine found in his car. She ruled state police didn't demonstrate probable cause for the searches.

Hernandez has pleaded not guilty to murder in the fatal shooting of semi-professional football player Odin Lloyd in June 2013. Lloyd, of Boston, was dating the sister of Hernandez's fiancee.

The phone at the center of the legal wrangling allegedly contains text messages exchanged between Hernandez and Lloyd about getting together not long before Lloyd was killed.

The 24-year-old Hernandez, who grew up in Bristol, Conn., is charged separately in the killings of two men in Boston in 2012 after a brief encounter at a nightclub. He has pleaded not guilty in that case as well.