FALL RIVER — A key figure in the murder case against former New England Patriots player Aaron Hernandez has changed his account of the final moments leading up to the fatal shooting in June of Odin Lloyd near Hernandez’s North Attleborough home.
Carlos Ortiz, 27, who faces a weapons charge in the case, had previously told authorities that Hernandez and Ernest Wallace, 41, got out of a rental vehicle with Lloyd in the industrial park, where he was shot multiple times.
Ortiz now claims that only Hernandez got out of the vehicle with Lloyd, prosecutor Patrick Bomberg said today during a bail hearing for Wallace, who is charged as an accessory after the fact of the killing.
Bomberg did not say why he mentioned the change in Ortiz’s story at Wallace’s hearing, and Bristol District Attorney C. Samuel Sutter said outside the court only that he does not believe it weakens the case against Hernandez, 23, who is the only one of the group charged with murder.
During the hearing, prosecutors argued that Wallace should continue to be held on $500,000 cash bail. Meier requested that it be reduced to $10,000.
Bomberg, repeating a phrase previously used by prosecutors, said that Wallace has acted as Hernandez’s “right-hand man.†Bomberg also said Wallace’s nickname for much of his life has been “Hobo†on account of his lack of work and a home — and the only income Wallace has recently received has either been from Hernandez or selling drugs.
Wallace had a lengthy criminal record dating back to 1988 that includes arrests for giving false names to police and drug violations, as well as at least one failure to appear in court for a pending case. And, Bomberg said, Wallace traveled to Florida shortly after the murder.
He said Wallace had been a frequent guest at Hernandez’s home in recent months and that maids working for the athlete reported seeing a firearm under the mattress Wallace slept on, as well as several other guns throughout the house.
Bomberg also said Wallace’s cellphone was used during the exchange of the last five messages between Hernandez and Lloyd before Lloyd was picked up in Dorchester the day he was murdered.
Wallace and Hernandez were in contact by cellphone with each other after the murder, Bomber said. He also said Wallace later turned off the cellphone and, because of that, authorities could not locate him for questioning.
Bomberg said that there is evidence that Wallace has “an extensive history of drug abuse,†including the use of angel dust and marijuana.
Meier countered that his client regularly travels between Connecticut, where he has cared for two of Hernandez’s cancer-stricken relatives, and Miramar, Fla., where his parents have owned a home for more than two decades.
He said that even though his client is charged as an accessory after the fact, there has been no allegation that he committed acts typical of that offense, such as driving a getaway car, helping to hide evidence or a suspect, disposing of robbery proceeds, or helping a suspect flee.
Meier asked, “What are the acts, what is it that the Commonwealth genuinely, responsibly alleges that Mr. Wallace did?â€
He also questioned whether there was evidence that Hernandez committed the murder.
The case against Hernandez includes, in addition to Ortiz’s testimony, cellphone records and video surveillance footage that, prosecutors say, shows Hernandez summoning Ortiz and Wallace to Massachusetts on the night of June 16, Lloyd getting into a vehicle carrying the trio early on June 17, and the vehicle pulling into the industrial park where Lloyd was fatally shot in the predawn hours.
Authorities also say that video surveillance footage from Hernandez’s home security system shows him carrying a handgun shortly after the killing. The murder weapon has not been recovered.
Judge E. Susan Garsh said at the conclusion of today’s hearing that she was continuing bail at $500,000 cash, in part because of Wallace’s use of aliases, his failures to appear for court hearings, and his lack of community ties.
“The defendant has no family in Massachusetts and nothing at all that appears to tie him to this state,†she said, noting also that he faces up to seven years in prison, if convicted.
Wallace is due back in court for a pretrial hearing on Nov. 8.
He wore a tan-colored, jail-issued collared shirt with glasses and a goatee, and appeared to nod slightly at times when Meier was addressing the judge.
The Hernandez story has drawn widespread attention because it poses the spectacle of a young, highly paid, professional athlete whose bright future now appears to be reduced to ashes.
