Judge denies bid to suppress evidence in Aaron Hernandez case

FALL RIVER, Mass. - A Massachusetts judge on Monday rejected a bid by lawyers for former New England Patriots player Aaron Hernandez to suppress evidence from a cellphone and video surveillance footage taken from his home during an investigation into the killing of a friend.

The former Patriots tight end has pleaded not guilty to murder in the death of semi-professional football player Odin Lloyd.

Lloyd's body was found in June 2013 in an industrial park about a half-mile from Hernandez's home in North Attleborough.

In denying the request, Judge E. Susan Garsh said in a written ruling that police had a reasonable basis to infer that Hernandez's home surveillance system "likely captured the images of whoever entered, left and returned to Hernandez's house in the hours immediately before and after the shooting" of Lloyd. "Thus, the (search warrant) affidavit created probably cause for the magistrate to believe that a search of Hernandez's residence for the home surveillance video would produce evidence that would aid in the apprehension or conviction of Lloyd's killer," the judge wrote.

Hernandez's lawyers argued that the search warrant was overly broad because it allowed police to seize video footage of the inside of Hernandez's home. But the judge found there had been "no showing that the scope of the warrant was impermissibly broadened."

Garsh has not yet ruled on a request to suppress evidence from other cellphones and three iPads seized from the house.

Two associates of Hernandez are also charged in Lloyd's death.

Hernandez has also pleaded not guilty in the 2012 killings of two Boston men.