The attorney for Shayanna Jenkins today accused Bristol County prosecutors of using “abusive’’ legal tactics in an effort to pressure Jenkins into providing information against her boyfriend, Aaron Hernandez, the former New England Patriots player who is accused of orchestrating the murder of Odin L. Lloyd this June.
Jenkins, who has a child with Hernandez and who began dating him when both were high school students in Bristol, Conn., was indicted last week by a Bristol County grand jury on a single count of perjury.
Under state law, since Jenkins is accused of perjury in a capital case, she faces a possible sentence of up to life in prison.
“The government actions in this case are abusive and overreaching,’’ said Janice Bassil, a veteran Boston criminal defense attorney representing Jenkins. “I don’t believe they have sufficient evidence’’ to charge Jackson with perjury.
Hernandez, who has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and gun charges, allegedly summoned two friends from his hometown of Bristol, Conn., to Massachusetts in the hours before Lloyd was found shot to death in a North Attleborough industrial park.
Those two men, Ernest Wallace and Carlos Ortiz, are both now charged with being accessories after the fact to Lloyd’s murder.
Bassil said that Jenkins — who has not faced any criminal charges until her indictment last Friday — is now being targeted because of her connection to Hernandez.
“I believe they are just simply trying to add pressure,’’ said Bassil. “They are trying to pressure her, but perhaps they are also trying to pressure him [Hernandez] through her.’’
Bassil said she has not seen the indictment, and was not informed her client had been charged by Bristol District Attorney C. Samuel Sutter, whose office is investigating the Lloyd murder.
Instead, she said, she learned about it because she follows Sutter on Twitter.
“I think it would be more appropriate to notify counsel rather than to release it on Twitter,’’ Bassil said.
Bassil said her client testified before a Bristol County grand jury for two days. Nothing her client said, Bassil insisted, supports accusing Jenkins of perjury in a capital case.
“There is a famous saying, a grand jury will indict a ham sandwich,’’ said Bassil. “ I look forward to challenging this in court. I really do. If a grand jury is supposed to protect citizens from overreaching prosecutors, then there is a lot of work to be done here.’’
Bassil said Jackson is tentatively slated to be arraigned in Bristol Superior Court in Fall River on Oct. 15.
Also today, Hernandez’s cousin Tanya Singleton is slated to be arraigned in the same court on a charge of conspiracy to commit accessory after the fact of Lloyd’s murder.
The indictments of Singleton, Jenkins, and Ortiz were disclosed Friday by Sutter’s office. Ortiz had previously faced gun charges stemming from the investigation.
Prosecutors have alleged that Hernandez, 23, who has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and several gun charges, orchestrated Lloyd’s June 17 killing after the two had a disagreement in a Boston nightclub in June.
The Globe reported in August that prosecutors were investigating a phone call and text message Hernandez allegedly sent to Jenkins on June 18 instructing her to“get rid of†firearms he allegedly stashed in the basement of their home.
Video from the home monitoring system shows Jenkins carrying a large, heavy object consistent with the shape of a lock box or safe to a car, leaving Hernandez’s home and driving toward Landry Avenue in North Attleborough.
She returned 35 minutes later without the large object. Police have not found the .45-caliber weapon used to kill Lloyd, but on June 19 they found a .22-caliber handgun along Landry Avenue. Police said the weapon appeared to have been “recently discarded.â€
John R. Ellement can be reached at ellement@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @JREbosglobe.
