A U.S. District court judge has granted a stay in a civil lawsuit filed against Aaron Hernandez where a Connecticut man alleges the former New England Patriot shot him in the face last February then dumped him in an alley to die.
According to USA Today Sports, judge Kathleen M. Williams' ruling means the case filed by Alexander Bradley will not be adjudicated until all criminal charges now pending against the 23-year-old Hernandez have been settled.
Hernandez has been jailed without bail and relegated to solitary confinement since late June after being arrested and subsequently indicted in the murder of 27-year-old semi-pro football player Odin Lloyd.
Police have speculated Hernandez shot Lloyd because of his concerns Lloyd might be able to implicate him in other crimes he's alleged to have committed, including a 2012 double-homicide in Boston that remains unsolved.
In the Bradley case, attorneys for Hernandez argued that because Bradley's lawyers are seeking to link their client's shootings with the murder and gun charges Hernandez faces in his criminal proceedings regarding Lloyd, Hernandez would be forced to cite the Fifth Amendment.
"Under these circumstances, if the instant civil suit is not stayed, Mr. Hernandez must necessarily invoke his Fifth Amendment rights here, and special circumstances exist requiring a temporary stay of the Lawsuit pending resolution of the Bristol County Action," Hernandez's lawyers told the court, according to the newspaper.
Bradley alleges he lost an eye when Hernandez fired a gun while they were arguing in a car after leaving a strip club in Florida. His suit is seeking unspecified damages.
Hernandez is also scheduled to be arraigned in the Lloyd shooting and five accompanying gun charges, in Fall River, Mass., on Friday.
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