The New England Patriots are complying with Aaron Hernandez's defense attorneys' request to have the medical records from his playing days turned over to them, despite prosecutors dismissing the move as a "fishing expedition."
Hernandez given transfer from Bristol County Jail
According to The Boston Globe the Patriots are willing to turn over 317 pages of medical records, but do not want to hand over nine pages of scouting reports from the 2010 NFL Combine that were prepared by an outside company. Patriots lawyer Andrew C. Phelan said, "It is a fishing expedition," and called the papers irrelevant to Hernandez's murder trial.
One of Hernandez's defense attorneys, Michael Fee, argued that the Combine records are relevant to the case because they can give insight into Hernandez's psyche. "State of mind is critical, and it's the basis of this request," Fee told Judge Raymond P. Veary on Wednesday. "This is not a fishing expedition."
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Due to the first-degree murder charges levied against Hernandez, requiring thought and premeditation to be part of the crime, the defense is arguing his state of mind is critical.
Phelan and the prosecutors have countered that reports from 2010 won't offer much toward figuring out Hernandez's mental state when he's accused of shooting Odin Lloyd, while Fee posits that "prior bad acts" that may be used against the accused could be addressed by these reports.
The defense doesn't seem to be getting much support from Assistant District Attorney Patrick Bomberg who said, "To say that a scouting report is a definitive study of the defendant's prior criminality is something that is obviously not supportable on its face."
In other related news Hernandez was transferred from the Bristol County Jail to the Nashua Street Jail in Boston, where he will be closer to his legal team. He will reportedly spend three to five days in booking before he's assigned to a section of the jail.
"Mr. Hernandez is not going to be treated any differently than any other pretrial detainee," Suffolk County Sheriff Steven Tompkins said.
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