On Monday, former Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez stands trial on the first of three (yes, three) murder charges. And the case now has a new lead prosecutor.
With Bristol County district attorney Sam Sutter becoming the mayor of Fall River, outgoing Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick appointed current assistant D.A. Thomas M. Quinn III to serve as acting district attorney.
“I am making this appointment now to assure the stability of the critical work of the office and fully respect the authority of the incoming governor to make his own appointment in due course,” Patrick said in a statement, via CBS Boston.
“It is very important for the office on the eve of one of the most highly publicized trials in the country,” Sutter said in a statement of his own.
Meanwhile, Hernandez’s lawyers have asked that his fiancée, Shayanna Jenkins, and mother, Terri Hernandez, be permitted to attend the trial regarding the June 2013 shooting death of Odin Lloyd. Since both are potential witnesses, the normal approach would be to bar them from observing the proceedings and hearing the testimony of other witnesses.
